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IXFRESSLY  roR  Ae  = 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS 


UNITED    STATES    OF  AMERICA^ 

FROM   WASHINGTON   TO   THE   PRESENT    TIME. 

CONTAINING 

A    NARRATIVE    OF    THE    MOST    INTERESTING    EVENTS   IN    THE 

CAREER   OF   EACH  , PRESIDENT  ;   THUS   CONSTITUTING 

A  GRAPHIC  HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

BY 

JOHN  S.  C.  ABBOTT, 

ACTHOK  OF  THE  "  MOTHEK  AT  IIOME,"    "  LiFE   OF  NAPOLEON,"   "  HiSTORT   OP  THE   CiVIL  WAK  IN 
AMEKICA,"    "FKEXCH    EEVOLUTION,"    ETC. 

ILLUSTRATED    WITH    PORTRAITS    OF  ALL 

THE    PRESIDENTS   ENGRAVED    ON    STEEL,    PICTURES 

OF  TUEIR   PRIVATE    RESIDENCES,  AND    FIFTEEN   OTUER  WOOD 

ENGRAVINGS     OF     THE    MOST   INTERESTING     SCENES     IN    THEIR    LIVES. 


SOLD   ONLY  BY  DISTRIBUTING  AGENTS. 


BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED  BY  B.  B.  RUSSELL   &   CO. 

SAN  FRANCISCO:    H.  H.  BANCROFT  &  CO. 

1867. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1866,  by 

B.  B.  RUSSELL  &  CO., 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


Stereotyped  and  printed  by  Geo.  C.  Rand  &  Avery,  3  Cornhill,  Boston. 


PREFACE. 


There  are  few  persons  who  can  read  this  record  of  the 
Lives  of  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States  without  the 
conviction,  that  there  is  no  other  nation  which  can  present 
a  consecutive  series  of  seventeen  rulers  of  equal  excellence 
of  character  and  administrative  ability.  Probably  the  least 
worthy  of  all  our  presidents  would  rank  among  the  best 
of  the  kings  whom  the  accident  of  birth  has  placed  upon 
hereditary  thrones ;  and  not  an  individual  has  popular  suf- 
rage  elevated  to  the  presidential  chair,  whom  one  would 
think  of  ranking  with  those  many  royal  monsters  who  have 
in  turn  disgraced  all  the  courts  of  Europe.  This  record 
settles  the  question,  that  popular  suffrage,  in  the  choice  of 
rulers,  is  a  far  safer  reliance  than  hereditary  descent. 

With  us,  the  freedom  of  the  press  is  so  unlimited,  and 
23olitical  partisanship  so  intense,  that  few  persons  have  been 
able  to  take  really  an  impartial  view  of  the  characters  of 
those  who  have  been  by  one  party  so  inordinately  lauded, 
and  by  the  other  so  intemperately  assailed.  But,  as  we 
now  dispassionately  review  the  past,  most  readers  will 
probably  find  many  old  prejudices  dispelled. 

In  writing  these  sketches,  the  author  has  endeavored  to 
be  thoroughly  impartial,  and  to  place  himself  in  the  posi- 
tion which  the  subject  of  the  sketch  occupied,  so  as  to  look 
from  his  stand-point  upon  the  great  questions  which  he 
was  called  to  consider.  John  Adams  and  Thomas  Jefferson 
were  in  political  antagonism  ;  but  no  man  can  read  a  true 
record  of  their  lives,  and  not  be  convinced  that  both  were 
inspired  with  the  noblest  zeal  to  promote  the  best  inter- 
ests of  their  country  and  of  the  human  race. 

The  writer  has  not  thought  that  impartiality  requires  that 
he  should  refrain  from  a  frank  expression  of  his  own  views. 


4  PREFACE. 

It  is  an  essential  part  of  biography,  that  faults  as  well  as 
virtues  should  be  honestly  detailed.  No  man  is  perfect. 
There  have  certainly  been  errors  and  wrong-doings  in  the 
past  administration  of  this  Government.  It  is  not  the 
duty  of  the  impartial  historical  biographer  to  ignore  such, 
or  to  gloss  them  over.  They  should  be  distinctly  brought 
to  lig-ht  as  instruction  for  the  future. 

o 

The  materials  from  which  the  writer  has  drawn  these 
biographical  sketches  are  very  abundant.  Whatever  of 
merit  they  possess  must  consist  mainly  in  the  skill  which 
may  be  exhibited  in  selecting  from  the  great  mass  those 
incidents  which  will  give  one  the  most  vivid  conception 
of  the  individual.  The  writer  has  attempted,  with  much 
labor,  to  present  a  miniature  likeness  of  each  character 
which  shall  be  faithful  and  striking.  If  he  has  failed,  he 
can  onl}'  say  that  he  has  honestly  done  his  best.  He  has 
not  deemed  it  expedient  to  encumber  these  pages  with  foot- 
notes, as  most  of  the  important  facts  here  stated,  it  is  be- 
lieved, are  unquestioned ;  and  all  will  be  found  substan- 
tiated in  the  memoirs  and  works,  more  or  less  voluminous, 
of  our  Chief  Magistrates,  contained  in  most  of  our  large 
libraries. 

We  have  just  passed  through  one  of  the  most  terrible 
storms  which  ever  desolated  a  nation.  Its  suro-ino;  billows 
have  not  yet  subsided.  Every  reader  will  appreciate  the 
delicacy  of  the  task  of  writing  now,  in  the  midst  of  all 
the  excitements  which  agitate  our  country,  an  account  of 
the  characters,  which  necessarily  involves  the  administra 
tions,  of  Presidents  Buchanan,  Lincoln,  and  Johnson  ;  and  yet 
the  writer  feels  such  a  consciousness  that  he  has  endeavored 
to  be  just  to  all,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be  faithful  to  the 
principles  of  a  true  democracy,  that  he  cannot  doubt  that 
the  final  verdict  will  sustain  his  record.  Neither  can  he 
doubt  that  every  candid  reader  must  admit  that  there  is  no 
government  upon  this  globe  better  adapted  to  promote  the 
great  interests  of  humanity  than  our  own.  With  these 
few  words,  the  author  submits  to  the  public  these  results 
of  many  months  of  incessant  yet  delightful  labor. 

JOHN  S.  C.  ABBOTT. 
New  Havex,  Coxx.,  November,  1866. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I, 

GEORGE      WASHINGTON. 

PAO* 

Ancestry  of  Washington.  —  His  Birth  and  Childhood.  —  Anecdotes.  —  The  Yonttful 
Engineer.  —  The  Fairfax  Family.  —  Life  in  the  Wilderness.  —  War  with  the  In- 
dians. —  Domestic  Griefs.  — The  French  War.  —  Washington's  Heroism  at  Brad- 
dock's  Defeat.  —  Scenes  of  Woe.  —  Marriage.  —  Inheritance  of  Mount  Vernon.  — 
Domestic  Habits.  —  American  Revolution.  —  Patriotism  of  Washington.  —  Ap- 
pointed Commander-in-chief.  —  Expulsion  of  the  British  from  Boston.  —  Battles  of 
the  Revolution.  —  Perplexities  and  Sufferings.  —  Spirit  of  Self-sacrifice.  —  Alliance 
with  France.  —  Capture  of  Cornwallis.  —  Attacks  upon  the  Character  of  Washing- 
ton. —  The  Tomahawk  and  Scalping-knife.  —  Close  of  the  War.  —  Washington 
chosen  President.  —  His  Retirement.  —  Peaceful  Life  at  Mount  Vernon.  —  Sickness 
and  Death 


CHAPTER    n. 

JOHNADAMS. 

Ancestry  of  John  Adams.  —  Anecdote  of  his  Boyhood.  —  State  of  the  Country.  —  Mar- 
riage.—British  Assumptions.  — Riot  in  Boston.  — Adams's  Defence  of  the  Soldiers. 
—  Anecdote.  — Patriotism  of  Adams. —  The  Continental  Congress.  — His  Influence 
in  Congress.  — Energy  of  Mrs.  Adams.  — The  Appointment  of  Washington.  —  The 
Declaration  of  Independence.  —  Letter  from  Mrs.  Adams.  —  Interview  with  Lord 
Howe.  —  Journey  to  Baltimore.  —  Delegate  to  France.  —  The  Voj-age.  —  Adams 
and  Franklin.  —  The  Contrast.  —  Franklin  and  Voltaire.  —  Second  Trip  to  Paris.  — 
Successful  Mission  to  Holland.  —  Conflict  with  the  French  Court.  —  Mission  to  Eng- 
land. —  Presidential  Career.  —  Last  Days,  and  Death 57 

CHAPTER    III. 

THOMAS      JEFFERSON. 

Birth  and  Childhood.  —  College-life.  —  A  Law-student.  —  Earnest  Scholarship.  —  Mar- 
riage. —  Estate  at  Jlonticello.  —  Interest  in  Public  Affairs.  —  Action  in  the  Conti- 
nental Congress.  —  Governor  of  Virginia.  —  Death  of  his  Wife.  —  His  Grief.  —  Let- 
ters to' his  Children.  —  Minister  to  France.  — His  Popularity.  — Political  Views.— 
Scientific  Accuracy.  —  Interest  in  the  French  Revolution.  —  Returns  to  America.— 
The  two  Parties,  Federal  and  Democratic. —  Secretary  of  State.  — Monarchical 
Sentiments.  —  Letters.  —  Correspondence  with  John  Adams.  —  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton. —  Weary  of  Office.  —  Vice-President.  —  President.  —  Inaugural.  —  Stormy 
Administration.  —  Life  in  Retirement.  —  Scenes  at  Monticello.  —  Death  ...    97 

5 


O  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

JAJIES      MADISON. 

PAGE. 

Childhood.  —  College-life.  —  Studious  Habits.  —  Enters  Public  Life.  — Mental  Charac- 
teristics. —  Aid  in  framing  the  Constitution.  —  In  Congress.  —  Marriage.  —  Mrs. 
Madison.  —  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws.  —  Secretary  of  State.  —  The  White  House. 

—  Life  in  Washington.  —  Friendship  with  Jefferson.  —  Abrogation  of  Titles.  —  An- 
ecdote. —  Chosen  President.  —  Right  of  Search.  —  War  with  England.  —  Re-elected. 

—  Treaty  of  Ghent.  —  Arrival   of  the   News.  —  Retirement  to   Montpelier.  —  Old 
Age,  and  Death 148 

CHAPTER    V. 

JAMES      JI  O  N  R  O  E. 

Parentage  and  Birth.  —  Education.  —  Enters  the  Army.  —  A  Legislator.  —  A  Senator. — 
Political  Views. — Mission  to  France.  —  Bonaparte.  —  Purchase  of  Louisiana.  —  Un- 
friendliness of  England.  —  Prospective  Greatness  of  America.  — Washington's  Views 
of  the  French  Revolution.  —  Col.  Jlonroe,  Governor.  —  Secretary  both  of  War  and  of 
State.  —  Elected  to  the  Presidency.  —  Northern  Tour.  —  Purchase  of  Spain.  —  Sym- 
pathy with  Revolutionary  Soldiers.  —  The  Monroe  Doctrine.  —  Retirement  and 
Death 169 

CHAPTER    VI. 

JOHN     QUINCY    ADAMS. 

Birth  and  Childhood.  —  Education  in  Europe.  —  Private  Secretary. — Enters  Harvard 
College.  —  Studies  Law.  —  Minister  to  the  Netherlands.  —  Commendation  of  Wash- 
ington.—  Other  Missions. — Return  to  America.  —  Elected  to  the  Massachusetts 
Senate. —  To  the  National  House  of  Representatives.  —  Alienation  of  the  Federal- 
ists.—  Professor  of  Rhetoric.  —  Mission   to   Russia.  —  Anecdote  of  Alexander. 

Treaty  of  Ghent.  —  Secretary  of  State.  —  President.  —  Unscrupulous  Opposition. 

Retirement. —Returned  to  the  House  of  Representatives.  —  Signal  Services.  —  Pub- 
lic Appreciation. —  Death 185 

CHAPTER    VIL 

ANDREW     JACKSON. 

Birth  and  Education.  —  A  Bad  Boy.  —  Keeps  School.  —  Studies  Law.  —  Emigrates.  — 
Frontier  Life. —  Low  Tastes.  —  A  Representative.  —  Senator.  —  Judge.  —  Shop- 
keeper.—  Major- General.  —  Quarrels  and  Duels.  —  Marriage  and  its  Romance. — 
Fight  with  the  Bentons.  —  War  with  the  Indians.  —  Defence  of  New  Orleans.  — 
Passion  and  Violence.  —  President  of  the  United  States.  —  Administration.  —  Retire 
ment.  —  Conversion.  —  Religious  Character.  —  Death _07 

CHAPTER    Vm. 

MARTIN     VAN     BUREN. 

Birth  and  Childhood.  —  Studies  Law.  —  Talents  and  Industry. —  Political  Principles. — 
Success  as  a  La-n^'er  and  Politician.  —  Aids  in  the  Election  of  Jackson.  —  Secretary 
of  State.  — Mrs.  Eaton. —  Resigns  his  Secretaryship.  — Minister  to  England.  — Re- 
jected by  the  Senate. — Attains  the  Vice-Presidency.  —  Patronage  of  Gen.  Jack- 
son. —  Chosen  President.  —  Retirement  and  Declining  Years 241 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

WILLIAM     IIENKY     HAKEISON. 

PAGK. 

Birth  and  Ancestry.  —  Enters  United-States  Ann  v.  — Is  promoted.  —  Resigns  his  Com- 
mission.—  Sent  to  Congress.  —  Gt)vernor  of  Indiana  Territory.  —  His  Scrupulous 
Integrity.  —  Indian  Troubles. —  Battle  of  Tippecanoe.  —  War  with  Great  Britain.  — 
Gov.  Harrison's  Perplexities  and  Labors.  —  The  British  repulsed.  —  Tecumseh 
slain.  —  False  Accusations.  —  Speech  in  Congress.  —  Reply  to  Randolph.  —  Letter  to 
President  Bolivar.  —  Temperance  Principles.  —  Views  respecting  Slavery.  —  Duel- 
ling.—  Elected  President.  —  Death 253 

CHAPTER    X. 

JOHN      TYLER. 

His  Parentage.  —  Education  and  Scholarship.  —  Early  Distinction.  —  Success  at  the  Bar 
and  in  Political  Life.  —  Democratic  Principles.  —  Course  in  the  Senate.  —  Elected 
Vice-President.  —  Accession  to  the  Presidency.  —  False  Position,  and  Embarrass- 
ments.—  Retirement  from  Office. — Joins  in  the  Rebellion.  —  Death  ....  274 

CHAPTER    XI. 

JAMES     KNOX     POLK. 

Ancestry  of  Mr.  Polk.  —  His  Early  Distinction.  —  His  Success  as  a  Lawyer.  —  Political 
Life. — Long  Service  in  Congress.  —  Speaker  in  the  House.  —  Governor  of  Ten- 
nessee.—  Anecdote.  —  Political  Views.  —  Texas  Annexation.  —  Candidate  for  the 
Presidency.  —  Mexican  War.  —  Its  Object   and  Results. —  Retirement.  —  Sickness. 

—  Death 284 

CHAPTER   XH. 

ZACHARY      TAYLOR. 

Birth.  —  Emigration  to  Kentucky. — Neglected  Education. — Enters  the  Army.  —  Life 
on  the  Frontier.  — ■  Battles  with  the  Indians.  —  Campaign  in  Florida.  —  The  Mexican 
War.  —  Palo  Alto.  —  Resaca  de  la  Palma.  —  Monterey.  —  Buena  Vista.  —  Nomi- 
nated for  the  Presidency.  —  Sufferings.  —  Death 299 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

MILLARD      FILLMORE. 

His  Lowly  Birth.  —  Struggles  with  Advei-sity.  —  Limited  Education.  —  Eagerness  for  In- 
tellectual Improvement.  —  A  Clothier.  —  A  Law-student.  —  Commencement  of  Prac- 
tice. —  Rapid  Rise.  —  Political  Life.  —  In  Congi-ess.  —  Vice-President.  —  Presi- 
dent. —  His  Administration.  —  Retirement.  —  The  Civil  War 324 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

FRANKLIN      PIERCE. 

'Character  of  his  Father.  —  His  Promise  in  Boyhood.  —  College-life.  —  Political  Views. 

—  Success  as  a  Lawyer.  —  Entrance  upon  Public  Life.  —  Service  in  the  Mexican 
War.  — Landing  in  Mexico.  —  March  through  the  Country.  —  Incidents  of  the  March. 

—  Anecdotes.  —  Nomination  for  the  Presidency.  —  Election.  —  Administration.  — 
Retirement 332 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XV. 

JAMES      BUCHANAN. 

PAGE, 

His  Childhood's  Home.  —  Devotion  to  Study.  —  Scholarship,  and  Purity  of  Character. — 
Congressional  Career.  —  Political  Views.  —  Secretary  of  State.  —  Minister  to  the 
Court  of  St.  James. —  Ostend  Manifesto. — Elected  to  the  Presidency.  —  The  New- 
Haven  Correspondence.  —  Disasters  of  his  Administration.  —  Retirement .        .        .  352 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

ABRAHAM      L  I  >•  C  O  L  N. 

Life  in  a  Log-cabin.  —  Excellence  of  Character  early  developed.  —  A  Day-laborer.  —  A 
Boatman.  —  A  Shopkeeper.  —  A  Strident.  —  A  Legislator.  —  A  Lawyer.  —  A  Mem- 
ber of  Congress.  —  A  Political  Speaker. —  The  Debate  with  Douglas.  —  Eloquence 
of  Mr.  Lincoln.  —  Nominated  for  the  Presidency.  —  Habits  of  Temperance.  —  His 
Sentiments.  —  Anecdotes.  —  Acts  of  his  Administration.  —  His  Assassination  .        .  375 

CHAPTER    XVn. 

ANDREW      JOHNSON. 

His  LdwIv  Origin.  —  Struggles  for  Education.  —  Early  Distinction.  —  Alderman,  Mayor, 
State  Representative,  State  Senator.  —  Speeches.  —  Member  of  Congress.  —  Gov- 
ernor.—  Anecdote.  —  United-States  Senator.  —  Opposition  to  Secession. —  Speeches. 
—  Gradual  Change  of  Views.  —  Military  Governor  of  Tennessee.  —  Address  to  the 
Colored  People.  —  Vigorous  Administration.  —  Vice-President.  —  Speeches.  —  Presi- 
dent. —  Political  Views.  —  Agreement  with  the  Republican  Party.  —  Conflict  with 
Congress.  —  His  Policy.  —  Articles  of  Amendment.  —  Peter  Cooper.  —  Future  Pros- 
pects        436 


STEEL-PLATE    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

I.  Group  plate  of  four  Presidents,  containing  likenesses  of  George  Washington,  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  Andrew  Jackson,  and  Andrew  Johnson.    Frontispiece. 
n.  The  British  Fleet  leaving  Boston  Harbor 32 

III.  Group  plate  of  six  Presidents;  viz.,  John  Adams,  Thomas  Jefferson,  James  Madi- 

son, James  Monroe,  John  Quincy  Adams,  and  Martin  Van  Buren        .        .        .97 

IV.  Battle  of  New  Orleans 233 

V.  Battle  of  Buena  Vista 319 

VI.  Group  plate  of  seven  Presidents;  viz.,  William  Henry  Harrison,  John  Tyler,  James 
K.  Polk,  Zachary  Taylor,  Millard  Fillmore,  Franklin  Pierce,  and  James  Bu- 
chanan    253 

VII.  Abraham  Lincoln  entering  Richmond 430 


LIVES    OF    THE    PRESIDENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  ^ 

Ancestry  of  Washington.  —  His  Birth  and  Childhood.  —  Anecdotes.  —  The  Youthful  En- 
gineer. —  The  Fairfax  Family.  —  Life  in  the  Wilderness.  —  War  with  the  Indian^.  — 
Domestic  Griefs.  —  The  French  War.  —  Washington's  Heroism  at  Braddock's  Defeat.  — 
Scenes  of  Woe.  —  Marriage.  —  Inheritance  of  Mount  Vernon.  —  Domestic  Habits.  — 
American  Revolution.  —  Patriotism  of  Washington.  —  Appointed  Commander-in-chief 

—  Expulsion  of  the  British  from  Boston.  —  Battles  of  the  Revolution.  —  Perplexities  and 
Sufferings.  —  Spirit  of  Self-sacrifice.  —  Alliance  with  France.  —  Capture  of  Cornwallis. 

—  Attacks  upon  the  Character  of  Washington.  —  The  Tomahawk  and  Scalping-knife.  — 
Close  of  the  War.  —  Washington  chosen  President.  —  His  Retirement.  —  Peaceful  Life 
at  Mount  Vernon.  —  Sickness  and  Death. 

Two  centuries  ago,  Virginia  was  almost  an  unexplored  wilder- 
ness ;  but,  even  then,  the  beautiful  realm  had  obtained  much 
renown  from  the  sketches  of  chance  tourists.  The  climate,  the 
soil,  the  rivers,  bays,  mountains,  valleys,  all  combined  to  render  it 
one  of  the  most  attractive  spots  upon  our  globe.  Two  young- 
brothers,  of  wealth,  intelligence,  and  high  moral  principle, — Law- 
rence and  John  Washington, — were  lured  by  these  attractions  to 
abandon  their  home  in  England's  crowded  isle,  and  seek  their 
fortunes  in  this  new  world.  They  were  both  gentlemen.  Law- 
rence was  a  fine  scholar,  a  graduate  of  Oxford  :  John  was  an 
accomplished  man  of  business. 

After  a  dreary  voyage  of  four  months,  they  entered  that  mag- 
nificent inland  sea,  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  from  that  ascended  the 
beautiful  Potomac.  It  was  a  scene  as  of  Fairyland,  which  was 
spread  around  them  that  bright  summer  morning,  when  their 
vessel,  propelled  by  a  favoring  breeze,  glided  over  the  mirrored 


10  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

waters  of  that  river  which  the  name  of  "Washington  was  subse- 
quently to  render  so  renowned.  The  unbroken  forest  in  all  its 
primeval  grandeur  swept  sublimely  over  hill  and  valley.  The 
birch  canoes  of  the  Indian,  paddled  by  warriors  in  their  pictu- 
resque attire  of  paint  and  feathers,  glided  buoyant  as  bubbles 
over  the  waves.  Distance  lent  enchantment  to  the  view  of  wig- 
wam villages  in  sunny  coves,  with  boys  and  girls  frolicking  on 
the  beach  and  in  the  water. 

The  two  brothers  had  purchased  a  large  tract  of  land  about 
fifty  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  on  its  western 
banks.  John  built  him  a  house,  and  married  Miss  Anne  Pope. 
Years  rolled  on,  of  joys  and  griefs,  of  smiles  and  tears,  of  births 
and  deaths ;  and  the  little  drama,  so  trivial,  so  sublime,  of  that 
family  life,  disappeared,  ingulfed  in  the  fathomless  sea  of  the 
ages.  Augustine,  the  second  son  of  John,  who,  like  his  father, 
was  an  energetic,  wise,  good  man,  remained  in  the  paternal 
homestead,  cultivating  its  broad  acres.  Life,  if  prolonged,  is  a 
tragedy  always.  Augustine's  wife,  Jane  Butler,  as  lovely  in 
character  as  she  was  beautiful  in  person,  died,  leaving  in  the 
house,  darkened  with  grief,  three  little  motherless  children.  The 
disconsolate  father,  in  the  course  of  years,  found  another  mother 
for  his  bereaved  household. 

He  was  singularly  fortunate  in  his  choice.  Mary  Ball  was 
every  thing  that  husband  or  child  could  desire.  She  was  beauti- 
ful in  person,  intelligent,  accomplished,  energetic  and  prudent, 
and  a  warm-hearted  Christian.  Augustine  and  Mary  were  mar- 
ried on  the  6th  of  March,  1730.  On  the  22d  of  February,  1732, 
they  received  into  their  arms  their  first-born  child.  Little  did 
they  dream,  as  they  bore  their  babe  to  the  baptismal  font  and 
called  him  George  WasJiing-ton,  that  that  name  was  to  become 
one  of  the  most  memorable  in  the  annals  of  time.  Explain  it  as 
we  may,  there  is  seldom  a  great  and  a  good  man  to  be  found  M^ho 
has  not  had  a  good  mother. 

In  this  respect,  George  Washington  Avas  very  highly  blessed. 
Both  of  his  parents  were  patterns  for  a  child  to  follow.  The 
birthplace  of  George,  though  very  secluded,  was  one  of  the  most 
picturesque  spots  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac.  His  parents 
were  wealthy  for  those  times,  and  his  home  was  blessed  with  all 
substantial  comforts.  A  beautiful  lawn,  smooth  and  green,  spread 
in  gentle  descent  from  the  door-stone  of  their  one-story  cottage 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  11 

to  the  pebbly  shore  of  the  river,  which  here  spread  out  into  a 
magnificent  breadth  of  nearly  ten  miles.  On  the  eastern  bank, 
there  extended,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the  forest-covered 
hills  and  vales  of  Maryland.  A  few  islands  contributed  their 
charm  to  this  view  of  surpassing  loveliness.  The  smoke  of 
Indian  fires  curled  up  from  the  forest,  the  flash  from  the  paddle 
of  the  Indian  canoe  glanced  over  the  waves,  and  occasion- 
ally the  sails  of  the  white  man's  ship  were  seen  ascending  the 
stream. 

From  earliest  childhood,  George  developed  a  very  noble  char- 
acter. He  had  a  vigorous  constitution,  a  fine  form,  and  great 
bodily  strength.  In  childhood,  he  was  noted  for  frankness,  fear- 
lessness, and  moral  courage  ;  and  yet  he  was  as  far  removed  as 
possible  from  manifesting  a  quarrelsome  spirit,  or  from  displaying 
any  of  the  airs  of  the  bravado.  He  never  tyrannized  over  others; 
and  none  in  his  peaceful,  rural,  virtuous  home  were  found  to 
attempt  to  tyrannize  over  him.  We  must  not  omit  the  story, 
though  the  world  has  it  by  heart,  of  his  cutting  the  cherry-tree. 
His  reply  to  his  indignant  father,  whose  impetuous  nature  was 
roused  by  the  outrage,  "  Father,  I  cannot  tell  a  lie,  I  cut  the 
tree,"  was  but  the  development  in  boyhood  of  the  character  of 
his  manhood.  The  father  was  worthy  of  the  child.  "  Come  to 
my  heart,"  said  he,  as  he  embraced  him  with  flooded  eyes  : 
"  I  had  rather  lose  a  thousand  trees  than  find  falsehood  in  my 
son." 

Man  is  born  to  mourn.  After  twelve  happy  years  of  union  with 
Mary  Ball,  when  George  was  but  ten  years  of  age,  Augustine 
Washington  died,  leaving  George  and  five  other  children  father- 
less. The  grief-stricken  mother  was  equal  to  the  task  thus  im- 
posed upon  her.  The  confidence  of  her  husband  in  her  judgment 
and  maternal  love  is  indicated  by  the  fact,  that  he  left  the  income 
of  the  entire  property  to  her  until  her  children  should  respec- 
tively come  of  age.  Nobly  she  discharged  the  task  thus  imposed 
upon  her.  A  nation's  homage  gathers  around  the  memory  of  the 
mother  of  Washington.  George  never  ceased  to  revere  his 
mother.  He  attributed  to  the  principles  of  probity  and  religion 
which  she  instilled  into  his  mind  much  of  his  success  during  the 
eventful  career  through  which  Providence  led  him. 

In  the  final  division  of  the  estate,  the  oldest  son,  Lawrence,  the 


12  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

child  of  Jane  Butler,  inherited  Mount  Vernon,  including  twenty- 
five  hundred  acres  of  land.  George  received  the  paternal  mansion. 
which  was  some  distance  farther  down  the  river,  with  the  broad 
acres  surrounding  it.  The  other  children  were  also  amply  pro- 
vided for.  Lady  "Washington,  before  her  marriage,  was  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  girls  irr  Virginia.  Her  figure  was 
commanding,  her  features  lovely,  and  her  demeanor  dignified  and 
courtly.  Life's  severe  discipline  developed  a  character  simple, 
sincere,  grave,  cheered  with  earnest  and  unostentatious  piety. 
Her  well-balanced  mind  gave  her  great  influence  over  her  noble 
son,  which  she  retained  until  the  hour  of  her  death. 

Mrs.  Alexander  Hamilton  tells  the  story,  that,  when  George 
Washington  was  in  the  meridian  of  his  fame,  a  very  brilliant 
party  was  given  in  his  honor  at  Fredericksburg,  Va.  When  the 
church-bell  rang  the  hour  of  nine.  Lady  Washington  rose,  and  said, 
'Come,  George,  it  is  nine  o'clock:  it  is  time  for  us  to  go  home." 
George,  like  a  dutiful  son,  offered  to  his  mother  his  arm,  and  they 
retired.  We  must  not,  however,  fail  to  record  that  Mrs,  Hamil- 
ton admits,  that,  after  George  had  seen  his  mother  safely  home,  he 
returned  to  the  party. 

There  was  then,  as  now,  in  Virginia,  great  fondness  for  splendid 
horses.  Lady  Washington  had  a  span  of  iron-grays,  very  spirited, 
and  very  beautiful.  With  much  pride  she  sat  at  her  window,  and 
gazed  upon  the  noble  creatures  feeding  upon  the  lawn,  and  often 
gambolling  like  children  at  play.  One  of  these  fiery  colts,  though 
accustomed  to  the  harness  with  his  companion  in  the  carriage, 
had  never  been  broken  to  the  saddle.  Some  young  men,  one  day, 
companions  of  George,  in  a  frolic  endeavored  to  mount  the  fiery 
steed.  It  could  not  be  done.  George,  who  was  then  about  thir- 
teen years  of  age,  approached,  soothed  the  animal  by  caresses, 
and,  watching  his  opportunity,  leaped  upon  his  back.  The  horse, 
half  terrified,  half  indignant,  plunged  and  reared,  in  the  vain 
attempt  to  free  himself  of  his  rider,  and  then,  with  the  speed  of 
the  winds,  dashed  over  the  fields.  George,  exultant,  sat  his  horse 
like  a  centaur,  gave  him  free  rein,  and,  when  he  flagged,  urged 
him  on. 

Fearless,  ardent,  imprudent,  he  forgot  the  nervous  energy  of 
the  noble  steed,  and  was  not  aware  of  the  injury  he  was  doing 
until  the  horse  broke  a  blood-vessel,  and  dropped  beneath  him. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  13 

Covered  with  foam,  and  gasping  for  breath,  the  poor  creature 
almost  immediately  died.  George  was  greatly  alarmed,  and  has- 
tened to  his  mother  to  tell  her  what  he  had  done.  Her  calm  and 
characteristic  reply  was,  — 

"  My  son,  I  forgive  you,  because  you  have  had  the  courage  to 
tell  me  the  truth  at  once.  Had  you  skulked  away,  I  should  have 
despised  j^ou." 

There  was  a  common  school  in  the  neighborhood,  which  George 
attended,  and  where  he  acquired  the  rudiments  of  a  good  English 
education.  He  was  a  diligent  scholar,  without  developing  any  great 
intellectual  brilliance.  He  possessed  strong  common  sense,  and  a 
remarkably  well-balanced  mind.  There  is  now  extant  a  manuscript 
in  his  plain,  legible  handwriting,  in  Avhich,  in  those  boyish  days, 
he  had  carefully  written  out  several  forms  of  business-papers,  that 
he  might  be  ready  on  any  emergency,  without  embarrassment,  to 
draw  up  correctly  such  documents.  The  manuscript  contains 
promissory-notes,  bills  of  sale,  land-warrants,  leases,  deeds,  and 
wills.  His  serious,  devotional  character  was  developed  in  those 
early  years.  Several  hymns,  expressing  earnest  religious  senti- 
ments, he  had  carefully  transcribed.  Another  manuscript-book, 
which  he  had  evidently  collated  with  great  care  and  sedulously 
studied,  contained  a  record  of  "  Rules  of  Behavior  in  Company 
and  in  Conversation." 

"  The  boy  is  father  of  the  man."  This  lad  of  thirteen  years,  in 
his  secluded  rural  home,  was  pondering  the  great  mysteries  of  the 
present  and  the  future  life,  and  was,  with  careful  study,  cultivating 
his  mind,  his  manners,  and  his  heart.  He  could  hardly  have  made 
better  preparation  for  the  career  which  was  before  him  had  some 
good  angel  whispered  into  his  ear  the  immense  responsibilities 
which  were  to  be  laid  upon  him,  and  the  renown  he  was  to 
acquire.  It  was  this  early  training,  to  which  he  was  undoubt- 
edly in  some  degree  stimulated  by  the  mind  of  his  mother,  to 
which  he  was  indebted  for  much  of  his  subsequent  success  in 
life. 

At  sixteen  years  of  age,  George,  then  a  man  in  character,  and 
almost  a  man  in  stature,  left  school.  He  excelled  in  mathematical 
studies,  and  had  become  familiar  with  the  principles  of  geometry 
and  trigonometry  and  of  practical  surveying.  It  was  then  his 
intention  to  become  a  civil  engineer.     At  that  time,  in  this  new 


14  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

and  rapidly-growing  country,  there  was  great  demand  for  such 
services,  and  the  employment  was  very  lucrative.  There  were 
then  in  the  colonies  but  few  men  who  were  proficients  in  those 
sciences.  George  Washington  came  from  school  an  accomplished 
man.  He  had  formed  his  character  upon  the  right  model.  Every 
thing  he  did,  he  did  well.  If  he  wrote  a  letter,  every  word  was 
as  plain  as  print,  with  spelling,  capitals,  punctuation,  all  correct. 
His  diagrams  and  tables  were  never  scribbled  off,  but  all  exe- 
cuted with  great  beauty.  These  excellent  habits,  thus  early 
formed,  were  retained  through  life. 

Upon  leaving  school,  George  went  to  spend  a  little  time  with 
his  elder  half-brother,  Lawrence,  at  Mount  Vernon.  Then,  as 
now,  that  was  an  enchanting  spot.  The  house  was  situated  upon 
a  r>well  of  land,  commanding  an  extensive  view  of  the  Potomac  and 
of  the  surrounding  country.  It  was  nearly  one  hundred  miles 
above  the  birthplace  of  the  two  children  and  the  home  of  George. 
About  eight  miles  from  Mount  Vernon,  an  English  gentleman,  Mr. 
William  Fairfax,  resided.  He  was  rich,  with  highly  cultivated 
mind  and  polished  manners,  and  a  model  for  imitation  in  all 
private  and  social  virtues.  Lawrence  Washington  had  married 
one  of  his  daughters.  George  became  intimate  with  the  family, 
and  derived  much  advantage  from  his  association  with  these 
ladies. 

Lord  Fairfax,  a  near  relative  of  William,  a  man  of  large  fortune 
and  of  romantic  tastes,  had  been  lun^d  by  the  charms  of  this 
delightful  region  to  purchase  a  vast  territory,  which  extended  far 
away,  over  the  Blue  Mountains,  to  an  undefined  distance  in  the 
interior.  It  was  a  property  embracing  rivers  and  mountains, 
forests  and  prairies,  and  wealth  unexplored.  Lord  Fairfax  was 
at  that  time  visiting  William.  He  was  charmed  with  young 
Washington,  his  frankness,  his  intelligence,  his  manliness,  his  gen- 
tlemanly bearing,  —  a  boy  in  years,  a  man  in  maturity  of  wisdom 
and  character. 

Lord  Fairfax  engaged  this  lad,  then  but  one  month  over  sixteen 
years  of  age,  to  explore  and  survey  these  pathless  wilds,  a  large 
portion  of  which  was  then  ranged  only  by  wild  beasts  and  savage 
men.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  a  lad  of  his  age  ever  before 
undertook  a  task  so  arduous.  With  a  few  attendants,  the  boy 
entered  the  wilderness.     It  was  the  month  of  March,  cold  and 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  lO 

blustering.  Snow  still  lingered  on  the  tops  of  the  mountains, 
and  whitened  the  sunless  ravines.  The  spring  freshets  had  swollen 
tliG  rivers.  The  Indians  were  friendly,  hospitable,  and  willing 
to  act  as  guides.  Frontiersmen,  a  rough  and  fearless  set  of 
men,  were  scattered  about  among  the  openings  in  the  wilder- 
ness. 

Through  these  solitudes  the  heroic  boy  was  to  thread  his  way, 
now  following  the  trail  of  the  Indian,  now  floating  in  the  birch 
canoe  upon  the  silent  rivers,  and  now  climbing  mountains  or 
struggling  through  morasses  which  the  foot  of  the  white  man 
had  perhaps  never  yet  pressed.  Often  the  cabin  of  the  settler 
afforded  him  shelter  for  a  night.  Frequently  he  slept  in  the  open 
air,  with  his  feet  to  the  fire.  Again  the  wigwam  of  the  Indian 
was  hospitably  open  to  receive  him.  It  must  have  been  a  strange 
experience  to  this  quiet,  thoughtful,  adventurous  boy,  to  find 
himself  at  midnight,  in  the  forest,  hundreds  of  miles  from  the 
haunts  of  civilization.  The  cry  of  the  night-bird,  the  howl  of  the 
wolf,  or  perhaps  the  wailings  of  the  storm,  fell  mournfully  upon 
his  ear.  He  gazed  upon  the  brands  flickering  at  his  feet,  on  the 
ground-floor  of  the  hut.  The  Indian  warrior,  his  squaw,  and  the 
dusky  pappooses,  shared  with  him  the  fragrant  hemlock  couch. 
We  have  some  extracts  from  the  journal  which  he  kept,  which 
give  us  a  vivid  idea  of  the  life  he  then  led.  Under  date  of  March 
15,  1748,  he  writes, — 

"  AVorked  hard  till  night,  and  then  returned.  After  supper,  we 
were  lighted  into  a  room ;  and  I,  not  being  so  good  a  woodman  as 
the  rest,  stripped  myself  very  orderly,  and  went  into  the  bed,  as 
they  call  it,  when,  to  my  surprise,  I  found  it  to  be  nothing  but  a 
little  straw  matted  together,  without  sheet  or  any  thing  else,  but 
only  one  threadbare  blanket,  with  double  its  weight  of  vermin. 
I  was  glad  to  get  up  and  put  on  my  clothes,  and  lie  as  my  com- 
panions did.  Had  we  not  been  very  tired,  I  am  sure  we  should 
not  have  slept  much  that  night.  I  made  a  promise  to  sleep  so 
no  more  in  a  bed,  choosing  rather  to  sleep  in  the  open  air  before 
a  fire." 

On  the  2d  of  April  he  writes,  ''  A  blowing,  rainy  night.  Our 
straw,  upon  which  we  Avere  lying,  took  fire  ;  but  I  was  luckily 
preserved  by  one  of  our  men  awaking  when  it  was  in  a  flame. 
We  have  run  off  four  lots  this  day." 


IG 


LIVES  OF  THE  PliESIDENTS. 


WASHINGTON   THE  SUKVJiYuK   IN    A   I'ERILOUS    SITUATION. 


The  following  extract  from  one  of  his  letters,  written  at  this 
time,  develops  his  serious,  thoughtful,  noble  character,  and  also 
the  adventurous  life  into  which  he  had  plunged :  — 

**  The  receipt  of  your  kind  letter  of  the  2d  instant  afforded  me 
unspeakable  pleasure,  as  it  convinces  me  that  I  am  still  in  the 
memory  of  so  worthy  a  friend,  —  a  friendship  I  shall  ever  be  proud 
of  increasing.  Yours  gave  me  more  pleasure,  as  I  received  it 
among  barbarians  and  an  uncouth  set  of  people.  Since  you 
received  my  letter  of  October  last,  I  have  not  slept  above  three 
or  four  nights  in  a  bed  ;  but,  after  walking  a  good  deal  all  the  day, 
I  have  lain  down  before  the  fire  on  a  little  hay,  straw,  fodder,  or 
bear-skin,  whichever  was  to  be  had,  with  man,  wife,  and  children, 
like  dogs  and  cats  ;  and  happy  is  he  who  gets  the  berth  nearest 
the  fire.  I  have  never  had  my  clothes  off,  but  have  lain  and  slept 
on  them,  except  the  few  nights  I  have  been  in  Fredericksburg." 

Such  experiences  rapidly  develop  and  create  character.  George 
returned  from  this  tramp  with  all  his  manly  energies  consolidated 
by  toil,  peril,  and  hardship.     Though  but  seventeen  years  of  age, 


GEORGE   W-ASHINGTON.  17 

he  was  a  responsible,  self-reliant  man.  The  State  of  Virginia  now 
employed  him  as  public  surveyor.  For  three  years  he  was  en- 
gaged in  these  laborious  duties,  which  introduced  him  to  scenes 
of  romance  and  adventure,  in  which  his  calm,  strong,  well-regu- 
lated spirit  found  a  singular  joy.  We  can  hardly  conceive  of 
any  thing  more  attractive  than  such  a  life  must  have  been  to  a 
young  man  of  poetic  imagination.  The  Indian  paddled  him,  in 
his  fairy-like  canoe,  along  the  river  or  over  the  lake.  Now  he 
stood,  in  the  bright  morning  sunlight,  uj)on  the  brow  of  the  moun- 
tain, gazing  over  an  interminable  expanse  of  majestic  forests, 
where  lakes  slept,  and  streams  glided,  and  valleys  opened  in  Eden- 
like beauty.  Though  he  often,  during  these  three  years,  visited 
the  home  of  his  mother,  his  headquarters,  if  we  may  so  speak, 
were  with  his  brother  at  Mount  Vernon,  as  this  was  much  more 
accessible  from  his  field  of  labor.  Lord  Fairfax,  who,  it  is  said, 
was  the  victim  of  a  love  disappointment,  had  built  him  a  sub- 
stantial stone  mansion  in  the  valley  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge, 
where  he  was  living  in  a  sort  of  baronial  splendor,  and  where 
George  "Washington  was  an  ever-welcome  guest. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen,  George  Washington  was  one  of  the 
prominent  men  of  the  State  of  Virginia.  The  Indians  were  now 
beginning  to  manifest  a  hostile  spirit.  There  is  between  savage 
and  civilized  life  an  '^  irrepressible  conflict."  Where  wild  beasts 
range  freely,  offering  food  for  the  hunter,  there  cannot  be  highly 
cultivated  fields.  Where  the  hum  of  human  industry  is  heard, 
with  villages,  churches,  schools,  and  manufactories,  there  can  be 
no  forest  left  for  bufialoes,  bears,  and  deer.  Civilization  was  rap- 
idl}^  supplanting  barbarism,  and  the  savages  were  alarmed.  They 
kindled  their  council-fires  ;  pondered  the  question  of  the  encroach- 
ments of  industry,  education,  and  wealth;  and  resolved,  Satan- 
inspired,  to  sweep  every  vestige  of  civilization  from  the  land, 
that  this  continent  might  remain  a  howling  wilderness. 

The  war-whoop  echoed  through  the  forest,  and  the  Indians 
lighted  their  torches  and  sharpened  their  scalping-knives  and 
tomahaM'ks  in  preparation  for  the  great  battle.  Billows  of  flame 
and  woe  desolated  the  land.  Yelling  savages  rushed  at  midnight 
upon  the  cabin  of  the  remote  settler.  Husband,  wife,  children, 
Avere  all  speedily  massacred,  and  their  bodies  were  consumed  in 
the  fire  which  destroyed  their  dwellings.  No  tongue  can  tell  the 
woes  which  ensued.     The  whole  military  force  of  Virginia  was 

3 


18  LIVES  OF  THE  PBESIDENTS. 

called  into  action  to  meet  this  terrible  foe,  emerging  at  will  from 
the  forest,  striking  its  terrific  blows,  and  then  retiring  to  those 
depths  of  the  wilderness  where  pursuit  was  unavailing.  The 
State  was  divided  into  districts,  over  each  of  which  a  military 
commander  was  appointed  with  the  title  of  major.  The  respon- 
gibilities  of  these  majors  were  very  great ;  for,  in  the  fearful  emer- 
gency, they  were  necessarily  intrusted  with  almost  dictatorial 
powers. 

George  Washington,  who,  be  it  remembered,  was  but  nineteen 
years  of  age,  was  one  of  these  majors.  With  characteristic  saga- 
city and  energy,  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  military 
art,  familiarizing  himself  with  strategy  and  tactics,  making  himself 
a  proficient  in  the  manual  exercise,  and  acquiring  the  accomplish- 
ments of  a  good  swordsman.  Ingredients  of  bitterness  are 
mingled  in  every  cup  of  life.  Storm  after  storm  sweeps  the 
ocean.  Lawrence  Washington  was  attacked  with  a  painful  and 
fatal  disease.  With  fraternal  love,  George  accompanied  him  to 
the  West  Indies,  hoping  that  tender  nursing  and  a  change  of 
climate  might  save  him.  "  May  you  die  at  home  !  "  is  one  of  the 
Oriental  benedictions.  The  invalid  continued  to  fail  during  the 
tour,  and  only  reached  home  in  time  to  die.  Virtues,  like  vices, 
love  company,  and  live  in  groups.  The  Washingtons  were  a 
noble  race.  Lawrence  was  the  worthy  brother  of  George,  en- 
deared to  his  friends  by  every  attraction  which  can  make  home 
happy.  He  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-four,  leaving  an  infant  child 
and  a  broken-hearted  widow. 

The  grief  of  George  was  very  bitter.  The  loss  of  such  a 
brother,  so  noble,  so  loving,  was  irreparable.  Lawrence  had  been 
to  George  as  both  father  and  brother.  He  left  a  large  property. 
Mount  Vernon  was  bequeathed  to  his  infant  daughter ;  and,  should 
she  die  without  heirs,  it  was  to  pass  to  George,  who  was  the  ex- 
ecutor of  the  estate. 

Virginia,  on  the  west,  is  bounded  for  a  distance  of  several 
hundred  miles  by  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  ;  la  belle  riviere,  as  the 
French  appropriately  named  it.  England  had  seized  the  coast  of 
the  North-American  continent ;  had  peopled  it  with  colonies,  whose 
enterprising,  migratory  population  were  rapidly  crowding  back 
into  the  vast  and  unexplored  interior.  France,  with  much  sagacity, 
had  seized  the  two  most  magnificent  rivers  of  our  land,  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi.    Each  of  these  European  kingdoms, 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  19 

then  equally  powerful,  was  jealous  of  the  other.  While  England 
was  pushing  her  possessions  rapidly  towards  the  pentre  of  the 
continent,  France,  equally  eager  to  seize  the  boundless^  treasure, 
was  rushing  up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi,  establish- 
ing military  posts  and  trading  depots,  forming  treaties  with  the 
Indian  tribes,  and  claiming,  by  right  of  these  explorations,  all  that 
vast  valley  of  millions  of  square  miles  drained  by  the  Mississippi 
and  its  tributaries,  and  by  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  chain  of 
lakes. 

Instead  of  settling  the  question  by  some  amicable  compromise, 
both  parties  determined  to  fight.  Probably  both  were  equally 
arrogant  and  unrelenting  in  their  demands,  John  Bull  has  never 
been  famed  for  the  spirit  of  conciliation,  and  France  has  never 
been  wanting  in  ambition.  "While  the  wordy  warfare  was  raging 
between  the  two  powerful  contestants,  the  Indians  shrewdly  sent 
a  deputation  to  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  inquiring  what  portion 
of  the  country  belonged  to  them,  since  England,  as  they  expressed 
it,  demanded  all  the  land  on  one  side  of  the  river,  and  France  all 
upon  the  other. 

And  now  the  dogs  of  war  were  let  loose.  France  and  England 
met,  straining  every  nerve,  upon  the  bloody  arena.  Both  parties 
dragged  the  Indian  tribes  into  the  conflict.  Woes  ensued  which 
can  never  be  revealed  until  the  judgment  of  the  great  day.  Con- 
flagration, massacre,  outrage,  filled  all  homes  with  consternation, 
and  deluged  the  land  in  misery.  The  solitude  of  the  wilderness 
was  broken  as  savage  bands  burst  from  the  forest,  with  the  hide- 
ous war-whoop,  upon  tl  e  cabin  of  the  lonely  settler.  The  shrieks 
of  the  father,  the  mother,  and  the  maiden,  as  they  sufifered  all 
which  savage  brutality  could  devise,  swept  like  the  moaning 
wind  through  the  wilderness,  and  no  one  was  left  to  tell  the 
tale. 

Just  before  hostilities  commenced,  the  Governor  of  Virginia 
sent  George  Washington  as  a  commissioner  to  remonstrate  with 
the  French  against  establishing  their  military  posts  upon  the 
waters  of  the  Ohio.  To  carry  this  remonstrance  to  the  garrisons 
to  which  it  was  sent,  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  traverse  a 
wilderness  for  a  distance  of  five  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  where 
there  was  no  path  but  the  trail  of  the  Indian,  and  no  abode  but 
the  wigwam  of  the  savage.  In  this  undertaking,  there  were  two 
objects  in  view.     The  ostensible  one  was  to  present  the  remon- 


20  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDEXTS. 

strance :  the  real  one  was  to  ascertain  the  number,  strength,  and 
position  of  the  French  garrisons. 

It  was  a  perilous  enterprise.  There  was  danger  of  perishing 
in  the  wilderness.  There  was  danger  from  the  tomahawk  of  the 
savage.  There  was  danger  that  the  French  might  not  allow  the 
commissioner  to  return  with  information  so  valuable  to  their  foes  ; 
and,  in  those  rude  times  and  regions,  it  was  veiy  easy  so  to  arrange 
matters  that  the  party  could  be  plundered  and  massacred.  No 
suitable  person  could  be  found  to  run  these  risks  until  George 
Washington  volunteered  his  services.  He  was  then  but  twenty 
years  and  six  months  of  age.  As  Gov.  Dinwiddie,  a  sturdy 
old  Scotchman,  eagerly  accepted  the  proffered  service,  he  ex- 
claimed,— 

••'  Truly,  you  are  a  brave  lad ;  and,  if  you  play  your  cards  well, 
you  shall  have  no  cause  to  i-epent  your  bargain," 

"Washington  started  from  Williamsburg  on  this  perilous  expedi- 
tion on  the  14th  of  November,  1753.  There  is  something  very 
subhme  in  the  calm  courage  with  which  he  set  out,  well  knowing 
that  he  was  to  pass  through  the  region  of  hostile  Indian  tribes ; 
and  that  it  was  their  practice,  not  merely  to  kill  their  prisoners, 
but  to  prolong  their  suiferings,  as  far  as  possible,  through  the 
mo^t  exquisite  and  diabolical  tortures.  He  took  with  him  but 
eight  men,  two  of  them  being  Indians.  They  soon  passed  the 
few  sparse  settlements  which  were  springing  up  near  the  Atlan- 
tic coast,  and  plunged  into  the  pathless  forest.  Winter  was  fast 
approaching,  and  its  dismal  gales  wailed  through  the  tree-tops. 
The  early  snow  crowned  the  summits  of  the  mountains,  and  the 
autumnal  rains  had  swollen  the  brooks  and  the  rivers. 

Guided  by  the  sagacity  of  the  Indians,  they  threaded  the  forest 
until  they  reached  the  Monongahela,  which,  flowing  from  the 
south,  unites  with  the  Alleghany  from  the  north,  and  forms  the 
Ohio.  Here  they  took  a  canoe,  and  in  eight  days  paddled  down 
the  river  to  the  mouth  of  the  Alleghany,  where  Pittsburg  now 
stands.  They  then  descended  the  Ohio,  with  an  ever-vigilant  eye, 
for  a  distance  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  to  the  principal 
port  of  the  French  commandant.  Havfng  successfully  accom- 
plished thus  much  of  his  mission,  and  fearing  that  the  Indians 
might  of  theii  own  will,  or  instigated  by  the  French,  intercept 
his  return,  he  started,  with  but  one  faithful  companion,  to  make 
his  way  back  through  the  wilderness  on  foot,  with  their  packs 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  21 

on  their  backs,  and  their  guns  in  their  hands.  Washington's  sus- 
picions proved  not  to  be  groundless.  Some  Indians  were  put 
upon  their  trail  by  the  French.  Washington's  femiliarity  with 
wilderness  life  and  Indian  strategy  enabled  him  to  elude  them. 
One  Indian,  however,  succeeded  in  joining  them,  and  offered  his 
services  as  a  guide.  Treacherously  he  led  them  from  their  path, 
hoping  to  lure  them  into  some  ambush,  and  striving,  but  in  vain, 
with  all  the  arts  of  Indian  cunning,  to  get  possession  of  Washing- 
ton's gun. 

At  night,  seeing  them  so  much  fatigued  by  their  day's  tramp  that 
he  thought  that  they  could  not  possibly  pursue  him,  he,  at  fifteen 
paces  distant,  fired  at  Washington,  missed  his  aim,  and  sprang  into 
the  woods.  He  was  caught.  Washington's  companion.  Gist,  was 
for  despatching  him  on  the  spot ;  but  Washington,  regarding  the 
wretched  savage  but  as  the  tool  of  others,  insisted  upon  letting 
him  go.  They  did  so ;  and  then,  without  rest  and  without  a 
guide,  pushed  on  through  the  long  December  night.  When  they 
reached  the  Alleghany  River,  opposite  the  present  site  of  Pitts- 
burg, they  found  the  banks  of  the  river  fringed  with  ice,  and  large 
blocks  drifting  furiously  down  the  middle  of  the  stream.  All  day 
long,  with  one  poor  hatchet,  they  toiled  to  build  a  raft.  It  was  a 
frail  afikir.  As  they  struggled  upon  it  through  the  broken  masses 
of  ice,  it  threatened  every  moment  to  go  to  pieces. 

In  the  middle  of  the  stream,  Washington's  setting-pole  became 
entangled,  and  he  was  thrown  into  the  river  where  it  was  ten 
feet  deep.  He  was  saved  from  drowning  by  clinging  to  a  log. 
At  length,  they  succeeded  in  reaching  an  island,  where  they 
passed  a  dismal  night,  their  clothes  frozen  into  coats  of  mail. 
The  night  was  so  cold,  that  in  the  morning  the  river  was  frozen 
over,  and  they  crossed  upon  the  ice.  Washington's  journal  of  this 
tour  was  published  in  London,  and  attracted  much  attention,  as 
.  it  contained  conclusive  proof  that  the  French  would  resist  any 
attempts  of  the  English  to  establish  their  settlements  upon  the 
Ohio.  The  Legislature  ^  Virginia  was  in  session  at  Williamsburg 
when  Washington  returned.  Modestly,  and  unconscious  that  he 
would  attract  any  attention,  he  went  ioto  the  gallery  to  observe 
the  proceedings.  The  speaker  chanced  to  see  him,  and,  rising, 
proposed  that 

"  The  thanks  of  this  house  be  given  to  Major  Washington,  who 
now  sits  in  the  gallery,  for  the  gallant  manner  in  which  he  has 


22  LIVES  OF   THE  PRESIDENTS. 

executed  the  important  trust*  lately  reposed  in  him  by  his  Excel 
lency  the  Governor." 

Every  member  of  the  house  rose  to  his  feet ;  and  Washington 
was  greeted  with  a  simultaneous  and  enthusiastic  burst  of  ap- 
plause. Embarrassed  by  the  unexpected  honor,  and  unaccus- 
tomed to  public  speaking,  the  young  hero  endeavored  in  vain  to 
give  utterance  to  his  thanks.  The  speaker  of  the  house  happily 
came  to  his  rescue,  saying,  "  Sit  down.  Major  Washington :  your 
modesty  is  alone  equal  to  your  merit." 

Gov.  Dinwiddle,  a  reckless,  headstrong  man,  instantly  organized 
a  force,  with  orders  "  to  drive  away,  kill,  or  seize  as  prisoners,  all 
persons,  not  the  subjects  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  who  should 
attempt  to  take  possession  of  the  lands  on  the  Ohio  or  any  of  its 
tributaries." 

A  regiment  of  about  four  hundred  men  was  raised.  Wash- 
ington was  appointed  colonel.  His  mission  was  to  march  again 
through  the  wilderness,  and  drive  the  French  from  the  Ohio. 
Washington  had  selected  the  point  at  the  junction  of  the  Monon- 
gahela  and  the  Alleghany  for  a  fort.  But  the  French  anticipated 
him.  As  he  was  hurrying  to  this  spot  with  his  garrison,  and  with 
the  tools  to  construct  a  fort,  he  was  disappointed  and  alarmed  to 
hear  that  the  French  were  already  at  work,  under  skilful  engi- 
neers, in  throwing  up  their  ramparts  upon  the  ver}'-  spot  which 
he  had  selected.  A  thousand  men  from  Canada  had  descended 
the  river  in  sixty  bateaux  and  three  hundred  canoes.  They 
had  already  eighteen  pieces  of  cannon  in  position.  Washington 
had  arrived  very  near  Fort  Duquesne  before  he  received  these 
tidings.  The  thought  of  attacking  the  French  in  such  overpow- 
ering numbers,  and  behind  their  ramparts,  was  madness.  Retreat, 
in  their  exhausted  state,  back  through  the  wilderness,  was  almost 
impossible.  Besides,  the  French,  through  their  spies,  had  kept  a 
V  close  watch  upon  them.  Their  Indian  allies  were  on  the  march  to 
intercept  their  retreat.  Washington  was  then  but  twenty-two  years 
of  age.  His  sufferings,  in  view  of  the  hurailiating  surrender  of  his 
whole  force  without  striking  a  blow,  must  have  been  awful.  He 
was  ready  for  almost  any  act  of  desperation  rather  than  to  do 
this.  As  yet,  there  was  no  war  declared.  The  nations  were  at 
peace:  not  a  hostile  gun  had  been  fired.  In  building  the  fort  on 
disputed  territory,  which  was  then  in  the  hands  of  the  French, 
the  French  had  merely  anticipated  the  English  by*  a  few  days.    It 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  23 

was  said  that  Indians  allies  were  marching  against  the  English ; 
but  this  was  rumor  merely.  No  such  foe  had  appeared.  There 
is  some  little  diversity  of  statement  in  reference  to  what  imme- 
diately followed ;  but,  so  far  as  can  now  be  ascertained,  the  follow- 
ing appear  to  be  the  facts  :  — 

The  French  say  that  they  sent  out  M.  Jumonville  as  a  civil 
messenger  to  confer  with  the  English  respecting  the  object  of 
their  approach,  as  there  was  no  declaration  of  war.  Washington 
was  infoi'med  that  a  party  of  French,  from  the  fort,  was  on  the 
march  to  attack  him  by  surprise.  Just  then,  there  came  a  night 
dark  and  stormy,  with  floods  of  rain.  Washington  took  forty  men, 
leaving  the  rest  to  guard  the  camp,  and  through  the  midnight 
tempest  and  gloom,  guided  by  some  friendly  Indians,  reached,  just 
before  daylight  in  the  morning,  the  camp  where  Jumonville  and 
his  men  were  unsuspectingly  sleeping.  Washington,  regarding 
them  as  foes  who  were  on  the  march  to  strike  him  by  surprise, 
fell  instantly  upon  them.  There  was  a  short,  fierce  conflict. 
Jumonville  and  ten  of  his  men  were  killed.  A  few  escaped.  The 
rest,  twenty-five  in  number,  were  taken  prisoners.  The  war  was 
thus  inaugurated,  —  a  long,  cruel,  bloody  war  of  seven  years. 

This  occurrence  created  great  excitement  at  the  time,  and 
Washington  was  very  severely  blamed ;  but,  now  that  the  pas- 
sions of  that  day  have  passed,  the  French  magnanimously  concur 
in  the  general  verdict,  that  the  event  must  be  regarded  as  an  un- 
toward accident.  Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  Washington 
would  have  shrunk  from  any  dishonorable  deed.  The  peculiar 
perplexity  and  peril  in  which  the  young  soldier  w^as  placed  shield 
his  fame  from  tarnish. 

But  this  act  opened  the  drama  of  war  with  all  its  horrors.  The 
French,  apprised  of  the  deed,  and  regarding  it  as  one  of  the 
grossest  of  outrages  (for  Jumonville  had  really  been  sent  as  a 
peaceful  messenger),  immediately  despatched  fifteen  hundred  men, 
French  and  Indians,  to  avenge  the  wrong.  Washington  could 
not  retreat ;  neither  could  he  fight  such  overwhelming  numbers 
with  any  hope  of  success.  Still  he  threw  up  such  breastworks  as 
could  be  hastily  constructed,  and,  with  less  than  four  hundred 
men,  fought  for  a  whole  day  against  the  army  which  surrounded 
him.  Starvation  compelled  him  to  capitulate.  M.  de  Villers,  the 
French  commander,  was  generous.  The  Virginia  troops  were 
allowed  to  retire  with  every  thing  in  their  possession   except 


24  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDEXTS. 

their  artillery.  Thus  they  returned  unmolested  to  the  settle, 
ments. 

On  the  whole,  Washington's  character  did  not  suffer  from  this 
adventure.  That  he  should  be  able  to  secure  such  favorable 
terms  of  capitulation,  and  march  back  his  little  force  through  the 
wilderness,  notwithstanding  the  lawless  character  of  the  Indians, 
who,  in  such  formidable  numbers,  were  marshalled  against  him, 
was  considered  evidence  of  both  sagacity  and  military  genius. 
Many  of  the  wild  frontiersmen,  waifs  from  all  lands,  who  had  been 
gathered  into  the  ranks  of  Washington's  army,  were  coarse  and 
wicked  men.  Washington,  as  a  gentleman  and  a  Christian,  ab- 
horred the  vice  of  profane  swearing,  to  which  they  were  very 
much  addicted.  The  following  record  from  one  of  the  orders  of 
the  day  will  explain  itself:  — 

"  Col.  Washington  has  observed  that  the  men  of  his  regiment 
are  very  profane  and  reprobate.  He  takes  this  opportunity 
to  inform  them  of  his  great  displeasure  at  such  practices ;  and 
assures  them,  that,  if  they  do  not  leave  them  off.  they  shall  be 
severely  punished.  The  officers  are  desired,  if  they  hear  any 
man  swear  or  make  use  of  an  oath  or  execration,  to  order  the 
offender  twenty-five  lashes  immediately,  without  a  court-martial. 
For  a  second  offence,  he  shall  be  more  severely  punished.'' 

On  another  occasion,  when  commander-in-chief  of  the  army 
struggling  for  our  national  independence,  he  invited  a  number  of 
officers  to  dine  with  him.  At  the  table,  one  of  the  guests,  in  con- 
versation, uttered  an  oath.  Washington  dropped  his  knife  and 
fork  as  suddenly  as  if  he  had  been  struck  a  blow,  and  thus  arrested 
the  attention  of  the  whole  company.  In  very  deliberate  and  sol- 
emn tones  he  then  said,  ••  I  thought  that  I  had  invited  only  gen- 
tlemen to  my  table." 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1755,  Gen.  Braddock,  a  self-conceited, 
stubborn  man,  landed  in  Virginia  with  two  regiments  of  regular 
troops  from  Great  Britain.  Arrogant  in  the  pride  of  his  technical 
military  education,  he  despised  alike  Frenchmen,  Indians,  and 
colonists.  With  his  force,  Braddock  started  on  a  march  through 
the  wilderness  for  the  reduction  of  Fort  Duquesne.  Washington 
accompanied  him  as  volunteer  aid.  As  he  abandoned  important 
domestic  business,  and  received  no  remuneration  whatever  for 
his  services,  he  must  probably  have  been  influenced  by  patriotism 
and  the  love  of  adventure.      In  a  strairu'lino^  line  four  miles  in 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON.  25 

length,  this  army  of  two  thousand  men,  totally  unacquainted  with 
Indian  wai'fare,  and  thoroughly  despising  such  bai'baric  foes, 
commenced  its  march,  with  ponderous  artillery  and  a  cumbrous 
baggages-train,  through  the  forest,  for  the  distant  junction  of  the 
Alleghany  and  the  Monongahela.  Washington,  who  well  knew 
the  foe  they  were  to  encounter,  was  alarmed  at  this  recklessness, 
and  urged  greater  caution.  The  regular  British  general  was  not 
to  be  taught  the  art  of  war  by  a  provincial  colonel,  who  had  never 
even  seen  the  inside  of  a  military  school.  Successfully  they  had 
threaded  the  wilderness,  and  on  a  beautiful  summer's  day  they 
were  exultingly  marching  along  the  banks  of  the  Monongahela, 
when  they  entered  a  defile  of  rare  picturesque  beauty. 

The  majestic  forest  spread  around  in  all  directions.  On  each 
side  of  a  sort  of  natural  path  there  was  a  dense  growth  of  under- 
brush, rising  as  high  as  the  men's  heads.  It  would  seem  as 
though  some  bad  genius  had  formed  the  spot  for  an  Indian  ambush. 
Proudly  the  army  straggled  along,  with  laughter  and  song,  with 
burnished  muskets  and  polished  cannon  and  silken  banners. 
They  were  British  troops,  led  by  British  regular  officers.  What 
had  they  to  fear  from  cowardly  Frenchmen  or  painted  savages  ? 
It  was  one  of  those  silent  days,  calm,  serene,  sunny,  when  all 
nature  seems  hushed  and  motionless,  which  Herbert  has  so  graphi- 
cally described,  — 

"  Sweet  day,  so  still,  so  calm,  so  bi'ight, 
The  bifida!  of  the  earth  and  sky." 

Suddenly,  like  the  burst  of  thunder  from  the  cloudless  heavens, 
came  the  crash  of  musketry,  and  a  tempest  of  lead  swept  through 
their  astounded  ranks.  Crash  followed  crash  in  quick  succession, 
before,  behind,  on  the  right,  on  the  left.  No  foe  was  to  be  seen; 
yet  every  bullet  accomplished  its  mission.  The  ground  was  soon 
covered  with  the  dead,  and  with  the  wounded  struggling  in  dying 
agonies.  Amazement  and  consternation  ran  through  the  ranks. 
An  unseen  fire  was  assailing  them.  It  was  supernatural ;  it  was 
ghostly.  Braddock  stood  his  ground  with  senseless,  bull-dog 
courage,  until  he  fell  pierced  by  a  bullet.  After  a  short  scene  of 
confusion  and  horror,  when  nearly  half  of  the  army  were  slain,  the 
remnant  broke  in  wild  disorder,  and  fled.  The  ambush  was  en- 
tirely successful.  Six  hundred  of  these  unseen  assailants  were 
Indians.  They  made  the  forest  ring  with  their  derision  in  scorn 
of  the  folly  of  Braddock. 


26  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"Washington,  through  this  awful  scene,  which  he  had  been  con- 
stantly anticipating,  was  perfectly  collected,  and,  with  the  coolest 
courage,  did  every  thing  which  human  sagacity  could  do  to  retrieve 
the  disaster.  Two  horses  were  shot  beneath  him,  and  four  bullets 
passed  through  his  coat.  It  is  one  of  the  legends  of  the  day,  that 
an  Indian  sharpshooter  declared  that  Washington  bore  a  charmed 
life ;  that  he  took  direct  aim  at  him  several  times,  at  the  distance 
of  but  a  few  paces,  and  that  the  bullets  seemed  either  to  vanish 
into  air,  or  to  glance  harmless  from  his  body.  Eight  hundred  of 
Braddock's  army,  including  most  of  the  officers,  were  now  either 
dead  or  wounded. 

Washington  rallied  around  him  the  few  provincials  upon  whom 
Braddock  had  looked  with  contempt.  Each  man  instantly  placed 
himself  behind  a  tree,  according  to  the  necessities  of  forest  war- 
fare. As  the  Indians  were  bursting  from  their  ambush,  with  tom- 
ahawk and  scalping-kuife,  to  complete  the  massacre,  the  unerring 
fire  of  these  provincials  checked  them,  and  drove  them  back.  But 
for  this,  the  army  would  have  been  utterly  destroyed.  All  Wash- 
ington's endeavors  to  rally  the  British  regulars  were  unavailing. 
Indignantly  he  writes,  '•  They  ran  like  sheep  before  the  hounds." 
Panic-stricken,  abandoning  artillery  and  baggage,  they  continued 
their  tumultuous  retreat  to  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  provincials, 
in  orderly  march,  protected  them  from  pursuit.  Braddock's  defeat 
rang  through  the  laud  as  Washington's  victory.  The  provincials, 
who  in  silent  exasperation,  submitting  to  military  authority,  had 
allowed  themselves  to  be  led  into  this  valley  of  death,  proclaimed 
far  and  wide  the  cautions  which  Washington  had  urged,  and  the 
heroism  with  which  he  had  rescued  the  remnant  of  the  ormy. 
After  the  lapse  of  eighty  years,  a  seal  of  Washington,  containing 
his  initials,  which  had  been  shot  from  his  person,  was  found  upon 
the  battle-field,,  and  is  at  the  present  time  in  possession  of  one  of 
the  family. 

The  state  of  things  in  Virginia  was  now  awful.  The  savages, 
exultant,  having  lapped  blood,  had  all  their  wolfish  natures  roused 
to  the  most  intense  excitement.  War  was  with  them  pastime,  and 
the  only  field  of  renown.  Advancing  civilization,  penetrating  the 
forests,  had  scattered  its  villages  and  secluded  farm-houses  along 
a  frontier  of  nearly  four  hundred  miles.  It  is  one  of  the  mysteries 
of  God's  providential  government,  which  no  finite  mind  can  fathom, 
that  he  could  have  allowed  such  horrors.     No  imagination  '■"an 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  27 

picture  them.  Midnight  conflagration,  torture  and  outrage  in 
every  form  which  fiends  could  devise,  became  the  amusement  of 
bands  of  howhng  savages,  who  came  and  went  like  the  wind. 

Fifteen  hundred  demons,  calling  themselves  Indian  braves,  in 
gangs  of  sometimes  but  eight  or  ten,  and  again  of  several  hundred, 
swept  the  frontier,  making  themselves  merry  with  the  shrinks  of 
their  victims,  and  showing  no  mercy  to  mothers  or  maidens  or 
helpless  infancy.  The  French  made  no  attempt  to  pursue  their 
advantage,  but  quietly  retired  to  Fort  Duquesne,  there  to  await 
another  assault,  should  the  English  decide  to  make  one. 

A  force  nominally  of  two  thousand  men,  but  in  reality  of  but 
about  seven  hundred,  was  raised,  and  placed  under  the  command 
of  Washington,  to  protect  the  scattered  villages  and  dweUings  of 
this  vast  frontier.  For  three  years,  Washington  consecrated  all 
his  energies  to  this  arduous  and  holy  enterprise.  It  would  require 
a  volume  to  record  the  wonderful  and  awful  scenes  through  which 
he  passed  during  these  three  years.  In  after-life,  Washington 
could  not  endure  to  recall  the  spectacles  of  suffering  which  he 
witnessed,  and  which  he  could  not  alleviate.  At  the  time,  he  wrote 
to  the  governor, — 

"  The  supplicating  tears  of  the  women,  and  moving  petitions  of 
the  men,  melt  me  into  such  deadly  sorrow,  that  I  solemnly  declare 
I  could  offer  myself  a  willing  sacrifice  to  the  butchering  enemy, 
could  that  contribute  to  the  people's  ease." 

One  day,  as  Washington,  with  a  small  portion  of  his  troops,  was 
traversing  a  part  of  the  frontier,  he  came  upon  a  single  log-house. 
It  was  in  a  little  clearing  which  the  settler  had  made  by  his  axe,  and 
which  was  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the  forest.  As  they  were 
approaching  the  clearing,  they  heard  the  sound  of  a  gun.  Appre- 
hending some  scene  of  violence  and  horror,  they  crept  cautiously 
through  the  underbrush  until  they  came  in  sight  of  the  settler's 
cabin.  Smoke  was  curling  up  through  the  roof,  while  a  party  of 
savages  were  rioting  around,  laden  with  plunder,  and  flourishing 
dripping  scalps.  Upon  the  appearance  of  the  soldiers,  the  savages, 
with  the  fleetness  of  deer,  dashed  into  the  forest.  Washington 
thus  describes  the  scene  which  met  their  eyes :  — 

"  On  entering,  we  saw  a  sight,  that,  though  we  were  familiar  with 
blo.od  and  massacre,  struck  us,  at  least  myself,  with  feelings  more 
mournful  than  I  had  ever  experienced  before.  On  the  bed,  in  one 
corner  of  the  room,  lay  the  budy  of  a  young  woman,  swimming  in 


28  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

blood,  with  a  gash  in  her  forehead  which  almost  separated  the 
head  into  two  parts.  On  her  breast  lav  two  little  babes,  appar- 
ently twins,  less  than  a  twelvemonth  old,  with  their  heads  also  cut 
open.  Their  innocent  blood,  which  once  flowed  in  the  same  veins, 
now  mingled  in  one  current  again.  I  was  inured  to  scenes  of 
bloodshed  and  misery;  but  this  cut  me  to  the  soul.  Never  in  my 
after-life  did  I  raise  my  hand  against  a  savage,  without  calling  to 
mind  the  mother  with  her  little  twins,  their  heads  cleft  asunder." 

Eagerly  the  soldiers  followed  in  the  trail  of  the  savages.  They 
had  gone  but  a  few  steps  ere  they  found  a  little  boy  and  his  father, 
who  had  been  working  in  the  fields,  both  dead  and  scalped.  The 
father  had  been  ploughing,  and  the  boy  was  driving  the  horse. 
When  the  father  was  shot  down,  the  terrified  boy  had  run  some 
distance  towards  his  home  ere  he  was  overtaken  and  murdered. 
Thus  the  whole  family  was  swept  away.  Such  were  then  the 
perils  of  life  on  the  frontier.  No  home  was  safe.  The  inmates  of 
every  cabin  were  liable,  at  midnight,  to  be  roused  by  the  yell 
of  the  savage ;  and,  while  the  torch  was  applied  to  the  dwelling,  the 
tomahawk  would  sink  into  the  brain.     Washington  writes,  — 

"  On  leaving  one  spot  for  the  protection  of  another  point  of 
e5j)osure,  the  scene  was  often  such  as  I  shall  never  forget.  The 
women  and  children  clung  round  our  knees,  beseeching  us  to  stay 
and  protect  them,  and  crying  out  to  us,  for  God's  sake,  not  to  leave 
them  to  be  butchered  by  the  savages.  A  hundred  times,  I  declare 
to  Heaven,  I  would  have  laid  down  my  life  with  pleasure,  even 
under  the  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife,  could  I  have  insured  the 
safety  of  those  suffering  people  by  the  sacrifice." 

In  November,  1758,  Fort  Duquesne  was  wrested  from  the 
French,  and  the  Valley  of  the  Ohio  passed  from  their  control  for- 
ever. The  Canadas  soon  after  surrendered  to  Wolfe,  and  English 
supremacy  was  established  upon  this  continent  without  a  rivaL 
Washington  was  now  twenty-six  years  of  age.  The  beautiful 
estate  of  Mount  Vernon  had  descended  to  him  by  inheritance. 
On  the  6th  of  January,  1759,  he  married  Mrs.  Martha  Custis,  a 
lady  of  great  worth  and  beauty.  Washington  was  already 
wealthy ;  and  his  wife  brought  with  her,  as  her  dower,  a  fortune  of 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  After  the  marvellously  tumultu- 
ous scenes  of  his  youth,  he  retired  with  his  bride  and  her  two 
children  to  the  lovely  retreat  of  Mount  Vernon,  where  he  spent 
fifteen  years  of  almost  unalloyed  happiness. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  29 

He  enlarged  the  mansion,  embellished  the  grounds,  and  by  pui  - 
chase  made  very  considerable  additions  to  his  large  estate.  The 
stern  discipline  of  life  had  subdued  his  passions.  His  habits  were 
frugal,  temperate,  and  methodical.  His  imposing  mansion,  the 
abode  of  a  generous  hospitality,  was  visited  by  the  most  distin- 
guished men  from  all  lands.  Though  a  strict  disciplinarian,  he 
was  a  considerate  and  indulgent  master.  It  was  his  invariable 
rule  to  retire  to  rest  at  nine  o'clock,  whether  he  had  company  or 
not.  He  rose  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  religious  inter- 
ests of  the  little  community  around  him  deeply  engaged  his  atten- 
tion, and  the  gospel  ministry  received  from  him  very  efficient  sup- 
port. The  following  letter,  which  he  wrote  to  a  nephew  who  was 
chosen  to  the  legislative  assembly,  contains  admirable  advice,  and 
is  an  interesting  development  of  his  own  character :  — 

"  If  you  have  a  mind  to  command  the  attention  of  the  house, 
speak  seldom,  but  on  important  subjects.  Make  yourself  perfectly 
master  of  the  subject.  Never  exceed  a  decent  warmth ;  and  sub- 
mit your  sentiments  with  diffidence.  A  dictatorial  style,  though  it 
may  carry  conviction,  is  always  accompanied  with  disgust." 

At  Mount  Yernon,  Washington's  occupation  was  that  of  a  large 
planter,  raising  wheat  and  tobacco.  The  wheat  was  ground  upon 
the  estate,  and  shipped  for  sale.  The  tobacco  was  sent  to  Eng- 
land ;  from  which  country  then  almost  every  article  of  domestic 
use  was  imported.  This  splendid  estate  consisted  of  eight  thou- 
sand acres,  four  thousand  of  which  were  in  tillage  :  the  remainder 
was  in  wood  or  uncultivated  land.  During  these  serene  years 
of  peace  and  prosperity  an  appalling  storm  was  gathering,  which 
soon  burst  with  fearful  desolation  over  all  the  colonies. 

We  now  come  down  to  the  notable  year  1775.  The  British 
ministry,  denying  the  colonists  the  rights  of  British  subjects, 
insisted  upon  exercising  the  despotic  power  of  imposing  taxes 
uponfthe  colonists,  while  withholding  the  right  of  representation. 
All  American  remonstrances  were  thrown  back  with  scorn.  Hire- 
ling soldiers  were  insultingly  sent  to  enforce  obedience  to  the 
mandates  of  the  British  crown.  The  Americans  sprang  to  arms, 
called  a  Congress,  and  chose  George  Washington  commander-in- 
chief  A  more  perilous  post  man  never  accepted.  The  whole 
population  of  the  United  States  then  did  not  exceed  three  mil- 
lions ;  being  almost  a  million  less  than  the  present  population  of 
the  single  State  of  New  York.     England  was  the  undisputed  mis- 


30  LIVES  OF  THE  PBESIDEXTS. 

tress  of  the  seas,  and  the  strongest  military  power  upon  the  globe. 
The  little  handful  of  colonists,  who  stepped  forth  to  meet  this 
Goliah  in  deadly  conflict,  had  neither  fleet,  army,  mihtary  re- 
sources, nor  supplies.  The  odds  were  so  fearful,  that  it  seems  now 
strange  that  any  courage  could  have  met  the  encounter. 

Defeat  to  Washington  would  prove  not  merely  ruin,  but  inevita- 
blv  an  ignominious  death  upon  the  scaffold.  Sublimely  he  stepped 
forward  from  his  home  of  opulence  and  domestic  joy,  and  accepted 
all  the  responsibilities  of  the  post.  The  green  in  Lexington  had 
already  been  crimsoned  with  the  blood  of  patriots,  and  the  battle 
of  Bunker's  Hill  had  rolled  its  echoes  through  Christendom.  To  a 
friend  in  England,  Washington  wrote, — 

"  The  Americans  will  fight  for  their  liberties  and  property. 
Unhappy  it  is,  though,  to  reflect  that  a  brother's  sword  has  been 
sheathed  in  a  brother's  breast,  and  that  the  once  happy  and  peace- 
ful plains  of  America  are  either  to  be  drenched  in  blood  or  to  be 
inhabited  by  slaves.  Strange  alternative !  But  can  a  virtuous 
man  hesitate  in  his  choice  ?  " 

To  the  Congress  which  elected  him  commander-in-chief  of  the 
American  forces,  he  replied,  — 

"  I  beg  leave  to  assure  the  Congress,  that,  as  no  pecuniary  con- 
sideration could  have  tempted  me  to  accept  this  arduous  employ- 
ment at  the  expense  of  my  domestic  ease  and  happiness,  I  do  not 
wish  to  make  any  profit  from  it.  I  will  keep  an  exact  account  of 
my  expenses.  Those,  I  doubt  not,  they  will  discharge.  That  is 
all  I  desire." 

To  his  wife,  who  was  ever  the  object  of  his  most  respectful 
regard  and  tender  affection,  he  wrote  that  it  was  his  greatest 
affliction  to  be  separated  from  her,  but  that  duty  called,  and  he 
must  obey.  He  said  that  he  could  not  decline  the  appointment 
without  dishonoring  his  name,  and  sinking  himself  even  in  her 
esteem. 

Twelve  thousand  British  regulars  were  then  intrenched  on 
Bunker's  Hill  and  in  the  streets  of  Boston.  About  fifteen  thou 
sand  provincial  militia,  wretchedly  armed,  and  without  any  disci- 
pline, occupied  a  line  nearly  twelve  miles  in  extent,  encircling,  on 
the  land  side,  Charlestown  and  Boston.  The  British  war-ships 
held  undisputed  possession  of  the  harbor.  These  veterans  could, 
apparently  with  ease,  at  any  time,  pierce  the  thin  patriot  line. 

It  requires  long  disciphne  to  transform  a  man,  just  taken  from 


GEORGE  WASniNGTOK.  31 

the  endearmeuts  of  home",  into  merely  a  part  of  that  obedient,  un- 
questioning machine  called  an  army.  A  thousand  trained  soldiers 
are  ever  regarded  as  equal  in  military  power  to  three  or  four  times 
that  number  fresh  from  the  pursuits  of  peaceful  life.  The  British 
had  Oldened  fire  at  Lexington  on  the  19th  of  April,  1775.  On  the 
2d  of  July,  Washington  arrived  in  Cambridge,  and  took  command 
of  the  army.  The  ceremony  took  place  under  the  elm-tree  which 
still  stands  immortalized  by  the  event.  Gen.  Gage  was  com- 
mander of  the  British  forces.  He  had  been  the  friend  of  Wash- 
ington during  the  seven-years'  war,  and  had  fought  by  his  side  at 
the  time  of  Braddock's  defeat;  and  yet  this  Gen.  Gage  seized 
every  patriot  upon  whom  he  could  lay  his  hands  in  Boston,  and 
threw  them  all,  without  regard  to  station  or  rank,  into  loathsome 
dungeons.  To  Gen.  Washington's  remonstrance  against  such  bar- 
barity, he  returned  the  insolent  reply,  — 

"  My  clemency  is  great  in  sparing  the  lives  of  those  who,  by  the 
laws  of  the  land,  are  destined  to  the  cord.  I  recognize  no  differ- 
ence of  rank  but  that  which  the  king  confers." 

Washington  at  first  resolved  to  retaliate  upon  the  English  pris- 
oners. But  his  generous  nature  recoiled  from  the  inhumanity  of 
punishing  the  innocent  for  the  crimes  of  the  guilty.  He  counter- 
manded the  order,  directing  that  the  prisoners  should  be  treated 
with  all  the  humanity  consistent  with  their  security.  In  the  sub- 
sequent and  more  successful  war  which  the  British  Government 
waged  against  popular  rights  in  Europe,  they  practised  the  same 
inhumanity.  The  French  prisoners  were  thrown  into  hulks,  and 
perished  miserably  by  thousands.  Napoleon,  like  Washington,  re- 
fused to  retaliate  upon  the  helpless  captives  in  his  hands  for  the 
infamous  conduct  of  their  government. 

At  length,  after  surmounting  diificalties  more  than  can  be  enu- 
merated, Washington  was  prepared  for  decisive  action.  In  a  dark 
and  stormy  night  of  March,  he  opened  upon  the  foe,  in  the  city, 
from  his  encircling  lines,  as  fierce  a  bombardment  as  his  means 
would  possibly  allow.  Under  cover  of  this  roar  of  the  batteries 
and  the  midnight  storm,  he  despatched  a  large  force  of  picked 
troops,  with  the  utmost  secrecy,  to  take  possession  of  the  Heights 
of  Dorchester,  There,  during  the  hours  of  the  night,  the  soldiers 
worked,  with  the  utmost  diligence,  in  throwing  up  breastworks 
which  would  protect  them  from  the  broadsides  of  the  English 
fleet.     Having  estabhshed  his  batteries  upon  those  heights,  ha 


32  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

commanded  the  harbor;  and  the  English  would  be  compelled  to 
withdraw,  or  he  would  blow  their  fleet  into  the  air. 

In  the  early  dawn  of  the  morning,  while  the  gale  swept  sheets 
of  mist,  and  floods  of  rain,  over  earth  and  sea,  the  British  admiral 
saw,  to  his  consternation,  that  a  fort  bristling  with  cannon  had 
sprung  up,  during  the  night,  almost  over  his  head.  He  imme- 
diately opened  upon  the  works  the  broadsides  of  all  his  ships ; 
but  the  Americans,  defiant  of  the  storm  of  iron  which  fell  around 
them,  continued  to  pile  their  sand-bags,  and  to  ply  their  shovels, 
until  ramparts  so  strong  rose  around  them,  that  no  cannonade 
could  injure  them.  The  British  fleet  was  now  at  the  mercy  of 
Washington's  batteries.  In  a  spirit  almost  of  desperation,  the  ad- 
miral ordered  three  thousand  men  in  boats  to  land,  and  take  the 
heights  at  every  hazard.  God  came  to  the  aid  of  the  colonists. 
The  gale  increased  to  such  fury,  that  not  a  boat  could  be  launched. 
Before  another  day  and  night  had  passed,  the  redoubt  could  defy- 
any  attack. 

The  situation  of  the  two  parties  was  now  very  singular.  The 
British  fleet  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  Americans:  Boston  was 
at  the  mercy  of  the  English.  ''  If  you  fire  upon  the  fleet," 
said  Gen.  Howe,  "  I-  will  burn  the  city."  — "  If  you  harm  the 
city,"  said  Washington,  ''  I  will  sink  your  fleet."  By  a  tacit  un- 
derstanding, the  English  were  permitted  to  retire  unharmed,  if 
they  left  the  city  uninjured. 

It  was  the  morning  of  the  17th  of  March,  1776.  The  storm 
had  passed  away.  The  blue  sky  overarched  the  beleaguered  city 
and  the  encamping  armies.  Washington  sat  upon  his  »horse, 
serene  and  majestic,  and  contemplated  in  silent  triumph,  from  the 
Heights  of  Dorchester,  the  evacuation  of  Boston.  Every  gun  6f 
his  batteries  was  shotted,  and  aimed  at  the  hostile  fleet.  Every 
torch  was  lighted.  The  whole  British  army  was  crowded  on 
board  the  ships.  A  fresh  breeze  from  the  west  fifled  their  sails ; 
and  the  hostile  armament,  before  the  sun  went  down,  had  disap- 
peared beyond  the  distant  horizon  of  the  sea.  As  the  last  boats, 
loaded  to  the  gunwales  with  British  soldiers,  left  the  shore  for  the 
fleet,  the  exultant  colonial  army,  with  music  and  banners,  marched 
over  the  Neck  into  the  rejoicing  city.  It  was  a  glorious  victory, 
won  by  genius  without  the  effusion  of  blood.  Such  another  case, 
perhaps,  history  does  not  record.  Washington,  luithout  ammuni- 
tion, had  maintained  his  post  for  six  months  within  musket-shot 


o  ^ 


-=3 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  33 

of  a  powerful  British  army.  During  this  time  he  had  disbanded 
the  small  force  of  raw  militia  he  at  first  had  with  him,  and  had 
recruited  another  army ;  and  had  then  driven  the  enemy  into  his 
ships,  and  out  into  the  sea. 

The  British,  thus  expelled  from  Boston,  gathered  their  strength 
of  fleets  and  armies  for  an  attack  upon  New  York.  The  Congress, 
assembled  in  Philadelphia,  which  at  first  sought  only  the  redress 
of  grievances,  now  resolved  to  strike  for  independence.  A  com- 
mittee was  appointed,  of  which  Thomas  Jefferson  was  chairman, 
to  draft  a  Declaration.  The  committee  presented  this  immortal 
document  to  Congress,  and  it  was  unanimously  adopted.  History 
has  recorded  no  spectacle  more  sublime  than  that  which  was 
witnessed  as  the  members  of  the  Continental  Congress  came  for- 
ward, each  one  in  his  turn,  to  sign  that  paper,  which  would  be 
his  inevitable  death-warrant  should  the  arms  of  America  fail. 
Not  one  faltered.  Every  individual  pledged  to  this  sacred  cause 
"  his  life,  his  fortune,  and  his  sacred  honor."  It  was  the  4th  of 
July,  1776. 

This  Declaration  was  read  from  the  steps  of  the  State  House 
in  Philadelphia  to  an  immense  concourse,  and  it  was  received 
with  bursts  of  enthusiasm.  It  was  sent  to  Gen.  Washington 
to  be  communicated  to  the  army,  which  he  had  now  assembled 
in  the  vicinity  of  New  York.  The  regiments  were  paraded  to 
hear  it  read.  It  was  greeted  with  tumultuous  applause.  The 
troops  thus  defiantly  threw  back  the  epithet  of  "  rebellious  colo- 
nists," and  assumed  the  proud  title  of  "  The  Army  of  the  United 
States."  Gen.  Washington,  in  an  order  of  the  day,  thus  alludes 
to  this  momentous  occurrence  :  — 

"  The  general  hopes  that  this  important  event  will  serve  as  a 
fresh  incentive  to  every  officer  and  soldier  to  act  with  fidelity  and 
courage,  as  knowing  that  now  the  peace  and  safety  of  his  country 
depend,  under  God,  solely  on  the  success  of  our  arms,  and  that 
he  is  now  in  the  service  of  a  State  possessed  of  sufficient  power 
to  reward  his  merit,  and  advance  him  to  the  highest  honors  of  a 
free  country." 

The  latter  part  of  June,  just  before  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, two  large  British  fleets,  one  from  Halifax  and  the 
other  direct  from  England,  met  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bay  of  New 
York,  and,  disembarking  quite  a  powerful  army,  took  possession 
of  Staten  Island.     Washington  had  assembled  all  his  available 

6 


34  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

military  force  to  resist  their  advances.  The  British  Grovcrnment 
regarded  the  leaders  of  the  armies,  and  their  supporters  in  Con- 
gress, as  felons,  doomed  to  the  scaff'old.  They  refused,  conse- 
quently, to  recognize  any  titles  conferred  by  Congressional  au- 
thority. 

Gen.  Howe  sent  a  flag  of  truce,  with  a  letter,  directed  to 
George  Washington,  Esq.  The  letter  was  returned  unopened. 
As  occasional  intercourse  between  the  generals  of  the  two  armies 
was  of  very  great  moment,  to  regulate  questions  respecting  the 
treatment  of  prisoners  and  other  matters.  Gen.  Howe,  notwith- 
standing this  merited  repulse,  wrote  again,  but  insultingly,  to 
the  same  address.  Again  the  letter  was  returned  unopened, 
and  with  the  emphatic  announcement,  that  the  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  American  army  could  receive  no  communication  from 
Gen.  Howe  which  did  not  recognize  his  military  position.  The 
British  officer  then  sent  a  letter,  insolently  addressed  to  George 
Washington,  Esq.,  etc.,  &,c.,  c&c.  This  letter  was  also  refused. 
A  communication  was  then  sent  to  Gen.  George  Washington. 

Thus  were  the  members  of  the  British  cabinet  in  London  disci 
plined  into  civility.  Gen.  Howe  frankly  confessed  that  he  had 
adopted  this  discourteous  style  of  address  simply  to  save  himself- 
from  censure  by  the  home  government.  Washington,  Avriting  to 
Congress  upon  this  subject,  says,  — 

"  I  would  not,  on  any  occasion,  sacrifice  essentials  to  jDunctilio ; 
but,  in  this  instance,  I  deemed  it  my  duty  to  my  country,  and  to 
my  appointment,  to  insist  upon  that  respect,  which,  in  any  other 
than  a  public  view,  I  would  willingly  have  waived." 

Gen.  Washington,  a  gentleman  and  a  Christian,  was  exceed- 
ingly pained  by  that  vulgar  and  wicked  habit  of  profane  swearing 
which  was  so  prevalent  among  the  troops.  We  have  already 
alluded  to  his  abhorrence  of  this  vice.  In  August,  1776,  he  issued 
the  following  notice  to  his  army  at  New  York :  — 

"  The  general  is  sorry  to  be  informed  that  the  foolish  and  pro- 
fane practice  of  cursing  and  swearing,  a  vice  hitherto  little  known 
in  an  American  army,  is  growing  itito  fashion.  He  hopes  that  the 
officers  will,  by  example  as  well  as  by  influence,  endeavor  to 
check  it,  and  that  both  they  and  the  men  will  reflect  that  we 
can  have  little  hope  of  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  our  aims  if  we 
insult  it  by  our  impiety  and  folly.  Add  to  this,  it  is  a  vice  so 
mean  and  low,  without  any  temptation,  that  every  man  of  sense 
and  character  detests  and  despises  it." 


GEORGE  WASniNGTON.  35 

Just  before  this,  he  had  written  to  Congress,  earnestly  soliciting 
chaplains  for  the  army.  In  this  plea  he  writes,  "  The  blessing 
and  protection  of  Heaven  are  at  all  times  necessary,  but  especially 
so  in  times  of  public  distress  and  danger.  The  general  hopes 
and  trusts  that  every  officer  and  man  will  endeavor  to  live  and  act 
as  becomes  a  Christian  soldier." 

By  the  middle  of  August,  the  British  had  assembled,  on  Staten 
Island  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  River,  a  force  of  nearly 
thirty  thousand  soldiers,  with  a  numerous  and  well-equipped  fleet. 
To  oppose  them,  Washington  had  about  twelve  thousand  men, 
poorly  armed,  and  quite  unaccustomed  to  military  discipline  and 
to  the  hardships  of  the  camp.  A  few  regiments  of  American 
troops,  about  five  thousand  in  number,  were  gathered  near  Brook- 
lyn. A  few  thousand  more  were  stationed  at  other  points  on  Long 
Island.  The  English  landed  without  opposition,  fifteen  thousand 
strong,  and  made  a  combined  assault  upon  the  Americans.  The 
battle  was  short,  but  bloody.  The  Americans,  overpowered,  sul- 
lenly retired,  leaving  fifteen  hundred  of  their  number  either  dead 
or  in  the  hands  of  the  English.  Washington  witnessed  this  rout 
with  the  keenest  anguish ;  for  he  could  not  detach  any  troops  from 
New  York  to  arrest  the  carnage. 

To  remain  upon  the  island  was  certain  destruction;  to  attempt 
to  retreat  was  difficult  and  perilous  in  the  extreme.  The  East 
River  flowed  deep  and  wide  between  the  few  troops  on  the  island 
and  their  friends  in  New  York.  The  British  fleet  had  already 
weighed  anchor,  and  was  sailing  up  the  Narrows  to  cut  off  their 
retreat.  A  vastly  superior  force  of  well-trained  British  troops, 
flushed  with  victory,  pressed  upon  the  rear  of  the  dispirited  colo- 
nists.    Their  situation  seemed  desperate. 

Again  Providence  came  to  our  aid.  The  wind  died  away  to  a 
perfect  calm,  so  that  the  British  fleet  could  not  move.  A  dense 
fog  was  rolled  in  from  the  ocean,  which  settled  down  so  thick 
upon  land  and  river,  that,  with  the  gathering  darkness  of  the  night, 
one's  outstretched  hand  could  scarcely  be  seen.  The  English, 
strangers  to  the  country,  and  fearing  some  surprise,  could  only 
stand  upon  the  defensive.  The  Americans,  familiar  with  every 
foot  of  the  ground,  improved  the  propitious  moments  with  ener- 
gies roused  to  their  highest  tension.  Boats  were  rapidly  collected  ; 
and,  in  the  few  hours  of  that  black  night,  nine  thousand  men,  with 
nearly  all  their  artillery  and  military  stores,  were  safely  landed  in 


36  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

New  York.  The  transportation  was  conducted  so  secretly,  with 
muiSed  oars  and  hushed  voices,  that  though  the  Americans  could 
hear  the  English  at  work  with  their  pickaxes,  and  were  even 
within  hearing  of  the  challenge  of  the  hostile  sentinels,  the  last 
boat  had  left  the  Long  Island  shore  ere  the  retreat  was  suspected. 
God  does  not  always  help  the  "heavy  battalions." 

The  British  now  presented  themselves  in  such  force,  of  both 
fleet  and  army,  that  Washington,  with  his  feeble  and  dispirited 
band,  was  compelled  to  evacuate  the  city.  A  rash  and  headstrong 
man  would  have  been  goaded  to  desperation,  and  would  have 
risked  a  general  engagement,  which,  in  all  probability,  would  have 
secured  our  inevitable  ruin.  A  man  easily  depressed  by  adversity 
would,  in  hours  apparently  so  hopeless,  have  abandoned  the  cause. 
Washington  wrote  to  Congress, — 

"  Our  situation  is  truly  distressing.  The  check  our  detachment 
received  has  dispirited  too  great  a  proportion  of  our  troops,  and 
filled  their  minds  with  apprehension  and  despair.  The  militia, 
instead  of  calling  forth  their  utmost  efforts  to  a  brave  and  manly 
opposition  in  order  to  repair  our  losses,  are  dismayed,  intractable, 
and  impatient  to  return  to  their  homes." 

The  American  army  was  now  in  a  deplorable  condition.  It  had 
neither  arms,  ammunition,  nor  food.  The  soldiers  were  unpaid, 
almost  mutinous,  and  in  rags.  There  were  thousands  in  the 
vicinity  of  New  York  who  were  in  sympathy  with  the  British 
ministry.  Nearly  aU  the  government  officials  and  their  friends 
were  on  that  side.  A  conspiracy  was  formed,  in  which  a  part  of 
Washington's  own  guard  was  implicated,  to  seize  him,  and  deliver 
him  to  that  ignominious  death  to  which  the  British  crown  had 
doomed  him.  We  were  then,  not  a  nation,  but  merely  a  confed- 
eracy of  independent  colonies.  There  was  no  bond  of  union,  no 
unity  of  counsel,  no  concentration  of  effort.  Each  colony  fur- 
nished such  resources  as  it  found  to  be  convenient,  or  withheld 
them  at  its  sovereign  pleasure.  England's  omnipotent  fleet  swept, 
unobstructed,  ocean  and  river  and  bay.  Her  weU-driUed  armies, 
supplied  with  the  most  powerful  weapons  and  strengthened  with 
all  abundance,  tramped  contemptuously  over  the  land,  scattering 
our  militia  before  them,  burning  and  destroying  in  all  directions. 
Gen.  Howe,  despising  his  foe,  and  confident  that  the  colonists 
could  present  no  effectual  resistance  to  his  powerful  army,  issued 
his  proclamations,  offering  pardon  to  all  who  would  bow  the  neck 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  il 

in  unquestioning  obedience  to  the  dictation  of  the  British  king, 
excepting  only  Washington,  Franklin,  and  a  few  others  of  the  most 
illustrious  of  the  patriots. 

Washington  was  equal  to  the  crisis.  He  saw  that  the  only  hope 
was  to  be  found  in  avoiding  an  engagement,  and  in  wearing  out 
the  resources  of  the  enemy  in  protracted  campaigns.  To  adopt 
this  course  required  great  moral  courage  and  self-sacrifice.  To 
rush  madly  into  the  conflict,  and  sell  life  as  dearly  as  possible, 
required  mere  ordinary  daring.  Thousands  could  be  found  capa- 
ble of  this.  Animal  courage  is  the  cheapest  of  all  virtues.  The  most 
effeminate  races  on  the  globe,  by  a  few  months  of  suitable  drilling, 
can  be  converted  into  heroic  soldiers,  laughing  lead  and  iron  and 
steel  to  scorn.  But  to  conduct  an  army  persistently  through  cam- 
paigns of'  inevitable  defeat ;  ever  to  refuse  a  battle ;  to  meet  the 
enemy  only  to  retire  before  him ;  to  encounter  silently  the  insults 
and  scorn  of  the  foe ;  to  be  denounced  by  friends  for  incapacity 
and  cowardice ;  and,  while  at  the  head  of  a  mere  handful  of 
ragged  and  unfurnished  troops,  to  be  compelled,  in  order  to  save 
that  little  handful  from  destrilction,  to  allow  the  country  as  well 
as  the  enemy  to  believe  that  one  has  a  splendid  army,  splendidly 
equipped, — this  requires  a  degree  of  moral  courage  and  an  amount 
of  heroic  virtue,  which,  thus  far  in  the  history  of  this  world,  has 
been  developed  only  in  George  Washington. 

America  had  many  able  generals ;  but  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  there  was  another  man  on  this  continent  who  could  have 
conducted  the  unequal  struggle  of  the  American  Revolution  to  a 
successful  issue.  Washington  slowly  retired  from  New  York  to 
the  Heights  of  Haarlem,  with  sleepless  vigilance  watching  every 
movement  of  the  foe,  that  he  might  take  advantage  of  the  slight- 
est indiscretion.  Here  he  threw  up  breastworks,  which  the  enemy 
did  not  venture  to  attack.  The  British  troops  ascended  the  Hud- 
son and  the  East  River  to  assail  Washington  in  his  rear.  A  weary 
campaign  of  marches  and  countermarches  ensued,  in  which  Wash- 
ington, with  scarcely  the  shadow  of  an  army,  sustained,  in  the 
midst  of  a  constant  succession  of  disasters,  the  apparently  hope- 
less fortunes  of  his  country.  At  one  time  General  Reed  in  anguish 
exclaimed, — 

*'My  God  !   Gen.  Washington,  how  long  shall  we  fly  ?" 

Serenely  Gen.  Washington  replied,  "We  shall  retreat,  if 
necessary,  over  every  river  of  our  country,  and  then  over  the 


38  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

mountains,   where   I   will   make  a  last   stand   against   our   ene 
mies." 

Washington  crossed  the  Hudson  into  the  Jerseys.  The  British 
pursued  him.  With  consummate  skill,  he  baffled  all  the  efforts  of 
the  foe.  With  an  army  reduced  to  a  freezing,  starving  band  of 
but  three  thousand  men,  he  retreated  to  Trenton.  The  British 
pressed  exultantly  on,  deeming  the  conflict  ended  and  the  revolu- 
tion crushed.  The  Congress  in  Philadelphia,  alarmed  by  the 
rapid  approach  of  the  foe,  hastily  adjourned  to  Baltimore.  It  was 
December,  with  its  wintry  gales,  and  frozen  ground,  and  storms  of 
sleet.  The  "  strong  battalions  "  of  the  foe  tracked  the  patriots  by 
the  blood  of  their  lacerated  feet.  With  great  difficulty,  Washing- 
ton succeeded  in  crossing  the  Delaware  in  boats,  just  as  the 
British  army,  in  all  its  pride  and  power,  with  horsemen,  infantry- 
men, banners,  music,  and  ponderous  artillery,  arrived  upon  the 
banks  of  the  stream.  Nearly  all  of  New  Jersey  was  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  British.  They  needed  but  to  cross  the  river 
to  take  possession  of  Philadelphia.  The  ice  was  now  so  rapidly 
forming,  that  they  would  soon  be  able  to  pass  at  any  point 
without  obstruction.  The  enemy,  with  apparently  nothing  to  fear, 
relaxed  his  vigilance.  The  British  officers,  welcomed  by  the 
Tories  in  the  large  towns,  were  amusing  themselves  with  feasting 
and  dancing,  until  the  blocks  of  ice,  sweeping  down  the  stream, 
should  be  consolidated  into  a  firm  foothold. 

The  night  of  the  25th  of  December,  1776,  was  ver}-  dark,  and 
intensely  cold.  A  storm  of  wind  and  snow  raged  so  violently,  that 
both  man  and  beast  were  forced  to  seek  shelter.  The  British 
officers  and  soldiers,  considering  the  patriots  utterly  dispersed, 
and  that  a  broad,  deep,  icy  river  flowed  between  them  and  the 
retreating  American  bands,  gathered  around  the  firesides.  In  the 
darkness  of  that  wintry  night,  and  amidst  the  conflict  of  its  ele- 
ments, Washington  re-embarked  his  troops  to  recross  the  Dela- 
ware, and  to  plunge  with  all  his  strength  into  the  midst  of  the 
unsuspecting  foe. 

In  this  heroic  deed  there  were  combined  the  highest  daring  and 
prudence.  Facing  the  storm,  and  forcing  his  boats  through  the 
boating  blocks  of  ice,  he  succeeded,  before  daylight  the  next 
morning,  in  landing  upon  the  opposite  shore  twenty-four  hundred 
men  and  twenty  pieces  of  cannon.  The  British  were  carelessly 
dispersed,  not  dreamiilg  of  danger.     The  Americans  sprang  upon 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  39 

the  first  body  of  the  foe  they  met,  and,  after  a  short  but  bloody 
strife,  scattered  them,  capturing  a  thousand  prisoners  and  six 
cannon.  Elated  with  this  success,  which  astounded  and  humbled 
the  foe,  the  American  troops  recrossed  the  river,  and  gained  their 
encampment  in  safety.  The  British  were  so  alarmed  by  this  in- 
dication of  vitality  in  the  American  army,  that  they  retreated  to 
Princeton,  and  Washington  took  possession  of  Trenton.  Soon  the 
foe,  under  Lord  Cornwallis,  having  received  large  re-enforcements, 
marched  upon  Trenton,  confident  that  Gen.  Washington  could 
no  longer  escape  them.  It  was  at  the  close  of  a  bleak,  winter's  day 
that  Cornwallis  with  his  army  appeared  before  the  lines  which 
Washington  had  thrown  up  around  Trenton.  Sir  William  Erskine 
urged  the  British  commander  to  make  an  immediate  attack. 
Cornwallis  replied, — 

"  Our  troops  are  hungry  and  weary.  Washington  and  his  tat- 
terdemalions cannot  escape ;  for  the  ice  of  the  Delaware  will 
neither  bear  their  weight,  nor  admit  the  passage  of  their  boats. 
To-morrow,  at  the  break  of  day,  I  will  attack  them.  The  rising, 
sun  shall  see  the  end  of  the  rebellion." 

The  sun  rose  the  next  morning,  cold  but  cloudless.  In  the  night, 
the  American  army  had  vanished.  Solitude  reigned  along  those 
lines,  which,  the  evening  before,  had  been  crowded  with  the  ranks 
of  war.  Replenishing  his  camp-fires  to  deceive  the  enemy,  at  mid- 
night, with  the  utmost  precaution  and  precipitation,  he  evacuated 
his  camp,  and,  by  a  circuitous  route,  fell  upon  the  rear  of  the  Eng- 
lish at  Princeton.  The  sun  was  just  rising  as  Washington's  troops 
plunged  upon  the  foe  in  this  totally  unexpected  onset.  A  hundred 
and  sixty  of  the  British  were  shot  down,  and  three  hundred 
were  taken  prisoners. 

While  this  event  was  taking  place  at  Princeton,  Lord  Cornwallis 
stood  upon  an  eminence,  gazing  in  astonishment  upon  the  deserted 
and  waning  fires  of  the  Americans.  Quite  bewildered,  he  pressed 
his  hand  to  his  brow,  exclaiming,  "  Where  can  Washington  be 
gone?"  Just  then,  the  heavy  booming  of  the  battle  at  Princeton 
fell  upon  his  ear.  "There  he  is  !"  he  added.  "By  Jove  !  Washing- 
ton deserves  to  fight  in  the  cause  of  his  king."  Cheered  by  this 
success,  Washington  led  his  handful  of  troops  to  the  Heights  of 
Morristown.  There  he  intrenched  them  for  winter-quarters.  He, 
however,  sent  out  frequent  detachments,  which  so  harassed  the 
enemy,  that,  in  a  short  time.  New  Jersey  was  delivered  from  the 


40  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

presence  of  the  foe.  The  country  became  somewhat  animated  by 
these  achievements,  and  Congress  roused  itself  to  new  energies. 

Washington,  as  we  have  said,  was  an  earnest  Christian.  When 
the  army  was  in  the  environs  of  Morristown,  N.  J.,  the  communion- 
service  was  to  be  administered  in  the  Presbyterian  church  of  the 
village.  Gen.  Washington  called  upon  Rev.  Dr.  Jones,  then  pas- 
tor of  the  church,  and  said  to  him,  ''Doctor,  I  understand  that  the 
Lord's  supper  is  to  be  celebrated  with  you  next  Sunday.  I  would 
learn  if  it  accords  with  the  rules  of  your  church  to  admit  commu- 
nicants of  other  denominations  ?  " 

"  Certainly,"  was  the  reply.  "  Ours  is  not  the  Presbyterian 
table,  general,  but  the  Lord's  table ;  and  we  give  the  Lord's  invi- 
tation to  all  his  followers,  of  whatever  name." 

"  I  am  glad  of  it,"  the  general  replied.  "  That  is  as  it  ought  to 
be.  But,  as  I  was  not  quite  sure  of  the  fact,  I  thought  I  would 
ascertain  it  from  yourself,  as  I  propose  to  join  with  you  on  that 
occasion.  Though  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England,  I  have  no 
exclusive  partiahties." 

The  doctor  re-assured  him  of  a  cordial  welcome,  and  the  gen- 
eral was  found  seated  with  the  communicants  next  sabbath. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  winter,  vigorous  efforts  were  made 
in  preparation  for  the  opening  of  the  spring  campaign.  The  dif- 
ferent States  sent  troops  to  join  the  army  at  Morristown.  The 
people  of  France,  in  cordial  sympathy  with  our  cause,  sent  two 
vessels,  containing  twenty-four  thousand  muskets,  to  Gen.  Wash- 
ington. Immense  embarrassments  were,  however,  continually 
experienced,  from  the  fact  that  we  were  not  a  nation,  but  a  mere 
conglomeration  o'f  independent  States.  Each  State  decided  for 
itself  the  pay  it  would  offer  to  the  troops.  Each  State  claimed 
the  right  to  withhold  any  portion  of  its  troops  for  its  own  security, 
however  much  they  might  be  needed  for  the  general  service.  It 
was  these  difficulties  of  the  old  confederacy  which  induced  "  the 
people  of  the  United  States  "  to  form  themselves  into  a  nation, 
with  certain  clearly  defined  rights  reserved  for  the  individual 
States. 

The  sympathy  excited  in  behalf  of  our  cause  in  France  was  of 
invaluable  service  to  us.  The  Marquis  de  Lafayette  left  his  man- 
sion of  opulence,  and  his  youthful  bride,  to  peril  his  life  in  the 
cause  of  American  independence.  The  British  officers,  harassed 
by  Washington's  sleepless  vigilance,  and  yet  unable  to  compel  him 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  "  41 

or  to  lure  bim  into  a  general  engagement,  ascended  the  Delaware 
in  a  fleet,  with  eighteen  thousand  soldiers,  to  capture  Philadelphia. 
They  landed  near  Elkton,  at  the  head  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  Wash- 
ington, with  but  eleven  thousand  men,  marched  to  encounter  them. 
The  two  hostile  bodies  met  on  the  banks  of  the  Brandywine.  A 
bloody  battle  ensued.  Lafayette  was  wounded.  The  Americans, 
overpowered,  were  compelled  to  retire.  With  unbroken  ranks, 
and  determination  still  unflinching,  they  retired  upon  Philadelphia. 

Congress  had  now  invested  Washington  with  nearly  dictatorial 
powers,  and  the  whole  country  approved  of  the  act.  In  Philadel- 
phia, the  army  was  rapidly  recruited;  and,  before  the  British  had 
recovered  from  the  blows  which  they  received  at  the  Brandywine, 
Washington  was  again  upon  the  march  to  meet  them.  It  was  so 
important  to  save  Philadelphia  from  the  enemy,  that  he  resolved 
to  hazard  another  battle.  The  two  forces  again  met,  about  twenty- 
three  miles  from  the  city.  Just  as  the  battle  commenced,  a  storm 
arose,  so  violent,  and  with  such  floods  of  rain,  that  neither  army 
could  long  pursue  the  contest.  Washington,  after  a  short  but 
severe  engagement  at  Germantown,  retired  with  his  ammunition 
spoiled,  and  the  British  took  possession  of  Philadelphia. 

Congress  precipitately  adjourned  to  Lancaster,  and  thence  to 
York.  For  eight  months,  the  English  held  the  city.  Various 
petty  battles  ensued,  some  of  them  quite  sanguinary,  but  none 
leading  to  any  important  results.  The  Americans  were,  however, 
acquiring  experience,  and  continually  gaining  new  courage.  The 
surrender  of  Burgoyne,  which  occurred  about  this  time  at  Sara- 
toga, rolled  a  surge  of  exultation  through  all  the  States. 

Winter  again  came.  The  British  were  comfortably  housed  in 
Philadelphia,  in  the  enjoyment  of  every  luxury.  Washington 
selected  Valley  Forge,  about  twenty  miles  from  Philadelphia,  as 
his  secure  retreat  for  winter-quarters.  The  soldiers  commenced 
rearing  their  log-lmts  here  the  latter  part  of  December.  Each 
hut  was  fourteen  feet  by  sixteen,  and  accommodated  twelve  sol- 
diers. The  encampment,  which  was  well  protected  by  earthworks, 
presented  the  aspect  of  a  very  picturesque  city,  with  neatly 
arranged  streets  and  avenues.  Eleven  thousand  men  here  passed 
the  winter  of  1777  and  1778.  It  was  a  period  of  great  discour- 
agement and  suffering.  The  army  was  destitute  of  food,  clothing, 
arms,  and  powder,  —  in  a  state  of  destitution  which  Washington 
did  not  dare  to  proclaim  abroad,  lest  the  foe  should  rush  upon  him 


\ 

42  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

in  his  helplessness.  The  commander-in-chief  was  assailed  with 
terrible  severity  for  this  inaction.  Though  Washington  felt  these 
reproaches  keenly,  lie  endured  them  all  with  that  external  im- 
perturbabiHty  of  spirit  which  so  wonderfully  characterized  him 
throughout  all  the  conflict.  He  wrote  to  Mr.  Laurens,  President 
of  Congress, — 

"  My  enemies  take  an  ungenerous  advantage  of  mo.  They 
know  the  delicacy  of  my  situation,  and  that  motives  of  policy 
deprive  me  of  the  defence  I  might  otherwise  make  against  their 
insidious  attacks.  They  know  I  cannot  combat  their  insinuations, 
however  injurious,  without  disclosing  secrets  it  is  of  the  utmost 
moment  to  conceal.  But  why  should  I  expect  to  be  exempt  from 
censure,  the  unfiling  lot  of  an  elevated  station?  Merit  and 
talent,  which  I  cannot  pretend  to  rival,  have  ever  been  subject 
to  it." 

It  was  in  this  dark  hour  of  our  struggle  that  France  generously 
came  forward  to  our  aid;  recognizing  our  independence,  enter- 
ing into  a  friendly  alliance  with  us,  and  sending  both  a  fleet  and 
an  army  to  our  support.  But  for  this  efiicient  assistance,  it  is 
scarcely  possible  that  our  independence  could  then  have  been 
achieved.  The  tidings  of  the  French  alliance  were  received  at 
Valley  Forge  with  unutterable  joy.  The  most  dishonorable  means 
were  now  taken  by  our  enemies  to  paralyze  the  influence  of  Wash- 
ington by  destroying  his  reputation.  A  pamphlet  was  published 
in  London,  and  scattered  widely  throughout  the  States,  containing 
forged  letters,  purporting  to  be  private  letters  from  Washington 
to  his  wife,  found  in  a  portmanteau  taken  from  a  servant  of  Wash- 
ington after  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Lee. 

The  forgery  was  skilfully  got  up.  The  letters  denounced  Con- 
gress for  madness  in  declaring  independence,  and  contained  many 
expressions,  which,  if  true,  proved  Washington  to  be  totally  unfit 
to  be  in  command  of  the  American  armies.  But  fortunately  the 
reputation  of  the  commander-in-chief  was  too  firmly  established 
in  this  country  to  be  thus  demolished.  The  British  army  now  in 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  amounted  to  thirty  thousand  men. 
The  whole  American  army  did  not  exceed  fifteen  thousand.  But 
the  alliance  with  France  gave  us  the  assurance  that  re-enforce- 
ments would  soon  come  to  our  aid.  The  British,  apprehensive 
that  a  French  fleet  might  soon  appear,  and  thus  endanger  the 
troops  in  Philadelphia,  evacuated  the  city,  and  sent  their  heavy 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  43 

material  of  war  to  New  York  by  water,  while  the  troops  com- 
menced their  march  through  New  Jersey.  The  cold  of  winter 
had  given  place  to  the  heat  of  summer. 

Washington  followed  closely  in  the  rear  of  the  foe,  watching 
for  a  chance  to  strike.  The  28th  of  June,  1788,  was  a  day  of 
intense  heat.  Not  a  breath  of  air  was  stirring,  while  an  unclouded 
sun  poured  down  its  blistering  rays  upon  pursuers  and  pursued. 
The  British  troops  were  at  Monmouth.  The  march  of  one  more 
day  would  so  unite  them  with  the  army  in  New  York,  that  they 
would  be  safe  from  attack.  Washington  ordered  an  assault.  Gen. 
Lee,  with  five  thousand  men,  was  in  the  advance.  Washington 
sent  orders  to  him  immediately  to  commence  the  onset,  with  the 
assurance  that  he  would  hasten  to  his  support.  As  Washington 
was  pressing  eagerly  forward,  to  his  inexpressible  chagrin  he  met 
Gen.  Lee  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  in  full  retreat.  It  is  said  that 
Washington,  with  great  vehemence  of  manner  and  utterance,  cried 
out,  "  Gen.  Lee,  what  means  this  ill-timed  prudence  ?  "  The  re- 
treating general  threw  back  the  angry  retort,  ''  I  know  of  no  man 
blessed  with  a  larger  portion  of  that  rascally  virtue  than  your 
Excellency." 

It  was  no  time  for  altercation.  Washington  turned  to  the  men. 
The}'  greeted  him  with  cheers.  At  his  command,  they  wheeled 
about,  and  charged  the  enemy.  A  sanguinary  battle  ensued,  and 
the  English  were  driven  from  the  field.  Night  closed  the  scene. 
The  colonists  slept  upon  their  arms,  prepared  to  renew  the  battle 
in  the  morning.  Washington,  wrapping  his  cloak  around  him, 
threw  himself  upon  the  grass,  and  slept  in  the  midst  of  his  sol- 
diers. When  the  morning  dawned,  no  foe  was  to  be  seen.  The 
British  had  retreated  in  the  night  to  the  Heights  of  Middletown. 
They  left  three  hundred  of  their  dead  behind  them.  The  Ameri- 
cans lost  but  sixty-nine.  The  British  also  lost  one  hundred  in 
prisoners,  and  over  six  hundred  had  deserted  from  their  ranks 
since  they  left  Philadelphia.  The  English  common  soldiers  had 
but  little  heart  to  fight  against  their  brothers  who  were  strug- 
gling for  independence.  At  Middletown,  the  British  embarked 
on  board  their  ships,  and  were  conveyed  to  New  York. 

They  had  now  inhumanly  summoned  the  Indians  to  their  aid. 
The  tomahawk  and  the  scalping-knife  were  mercilessly  employed. 
Towns,  villages,  farm-houses,  were  burned,  and  their  inhabitants  — 
men,  women,  and  children  —  were  massacred  by  savages,  inspired 


44  LIVES  OF  TEE  PRESIDENTS. 

with  the  fuiy  of  demons.  The  British  ministry  encouraged  these 
atrocities.  They  said  that  rebellious  America  must  be  punished 
into  submission  ;  and  that,  in  inflicting  this  punishment,  it  was  right 
to  make  use  of  all  the  instruments  which  God  and  Nature  had 
placed  in  their  hands. 

But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  there  were  many  noble  Eng- 
lishmen who  espoused  our  cause.  Some  of  the  ablest  men  in  both 
the  House  of  Commons  and  the  House  of  Lords,  and  thousands 
throughout  England,  were  in  cordial  sympathy  with  the  colo 
nists  struggling  for  their  rights.  Instead  of  adopting  the  execra- 
ble sentiment,  "  Our  country,  right  or  wrong,"  they  acted  upon 
that  noble  maxim,  "  Our  country,  —  when  right,  to  be  kept  right ; 
when  wrong,  to  be  put  right."  Of  these  men,  some  pleaded  for 
us  at  home,  some  aided  us  with  their  money  and  counsel,  and 
some  entered  our  ranks  as  officers  and  soldiers.  Lord  Chatham,  in 
tones  which  echoed  throughout  the  civilized  world,  exclaimed 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  at  the  very  foot  of  the  throne,  "  Were 
I  an  American,  as  I  am  an  Englishman,  I  would  never  lay  down 
my  arms,  —  never,  never,  neter  !  " 

Another  cold  and  cheerless  winter  came ;  and  the  American 
army  went  into  winter-quarters  mainly  at  West  Point,  on  the 
Hudson.  The  British  remained  within  their  lines  at  Xew  York. 
They  sent  agents,  however,  to  the  Six  Nations  of  Indians,  to  arm 
them  against  our  defenceless  frontier.  These  fierce  savages, 
accompanied  by  Tory  bands,  perpetrated  horrors  too  awful  for 
recital.  The  massacres  of  Cherry  Valley  and  of  Wyoming  were 
among  the  most  awful  of  the  tragedies  which  have  ever  been  wit- 
nessed on  this  globe.  The  narrative  of  these  fiendish  deeds  sent 
a  thrill  of  horror  through  England  as  well  as  America.  Four 
thousand  men  were  sent  by  Washington  into  the  wilderness,  to 
arrestj  if  possible,  these  massacres.  The  savages,  and  their  still 
more  guilty  allies,  were  driven  to  Niagara,  where  they  were  re- 
ceived into  an  English  fortress. 

The  summer  campaign  opened  with  an  indiscriminate  devasta- 
tion and  plunder,  pursued  vigorously  b}'  the  English.  "A  Avar  of 
this  sort,"  said  Lord  George  Germain,  '''will  probably  induce  the 
rebellious  provinces  to  return  to  their  allegiance."  The  British 
now  concentrated  their  forces  for  an  attack  upon  West  Point,  and 
to  get  the  control  of  the  upper  waters  of  the  Hudson.  Washing- 
ton detected  and  thwarted  their  plan.     Gen.  Clinton,  who  was 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  45 

then  in  command  of  the  British  forces,  exasperated  by  this  dis- 
comfiture, commenced  a  more  vigorous  prosecution  of  a  system 
of  violence  and  plunder  upon  the  defenceless  towns  and  farm- 
houses of  the  Americans  who  were  unprotected.  The  sky  was 
reddened  with  wanton  conflagration.  Women  and  children  were 
driven  houseless  into  the  fields.  The  flourishing  towns  of  Fair- 
field and  Norwalk,  in  Connecticut,  were  reduced  to  ashes. 

While  the  enemy  was  thus  ravaging  that  defenceless  State, 
Washington  planned  an  expedition  against  Stony  Point,  on  the 
Hudson,  which  was  held  by  the  British.  Gen.  Wayne  conducted 
the  enterprise,  on  the  night  of  the  15th  of  July,  with  great  gal- 
lantry and  success.  »Sixty-three  of  the  British  were  kiUed,  five 
hundred  and  forty-three  were  taken  prisoners,  and  all  the  military 
stores  of  the  fortress  captured.  During  this  summer  campaign, 
the  American  army  was  never  sufficiently  strong  to  take  the  offen- 
sive. It  was,  however,  incessantly  employed  striking  blows  upon 
the  English  wherever  the  eagle  eye  of  Washington  could  discern 
an  exposed  spot. 

The  winter  of  1779  set  in  early,  and  with  unusual  severity. 
The  American  army  was  in  such  a  starving  condition,  that  Wash- 
ington was  compelled  to  make  the  utmost  exertions  to  save  his 
wasting  band  from  annihilation.  Incited  by  his  urgent  appeals, 
the  colonies  made  new  efforts  to  augment  their  forces  for  a  more 
vigorous  campaign  in  the  spring.  Cheering  intelligence  arrived 
that  a  land  and  naval  force  might  soon  be  expected  from  our  gen- 
erous friends  the  French. 

In  July,  twelve  vessels  of  war  arrived  from  France,  with  arms, 
ammunition,  and  five  thousand  soldiers.  This  squadron  was,  how- 
ever, immediately  blockaded  in  Newport  by  a  stronger  British 
fleet ;  and  another  expedition,  which  was  about  to  sail  from  Brest, 
in  France,  was  effectually  shut  up  in  that  port.  The  war  still  raged 
in  detachments,  widely  spread ;  and  conflagration,  blood,  and  misery 
deluged  our  unhappy  land. 

These  long  years  of  war  and  woe  filled  many  even  of  the  most 
sanguine  hearts  with  despair.  Not  a  few  true  patriots  deemed  it 
madness  for  the  colonies,  impoverished  as  they  now  were,  any 
longer  to  contend  against  the  richest  and  most  powerful  monarch}'- 
upon  the  globe.  Gen.  Arnold,  who  was  at  this  time  in  command 
at  West  Point,  saw  no  hope  for  his  country.  Believing  the  ship 
to  be  sinking,  he  ingloriously  sought  to  take  care  of  himself     He 


46  LIVES  OF  THE  PliESIDENTS. 

turned  traitor,  and  offered  to  sell  bis  fortress  to  the  English.  The 
treason  was  detected  :  but  the  traitor  escaped ;  and  the  lamented 
Andre,  who  had  been  lured  into  the  position  of  a  spy,  became  the 
necessary  victim  of  Arnold's  crime. 

Lord  Cornwallis  was  now,  with  a  well-provided  army  and 
an  assisting  navy,  overrunning  the  two  Carolinas.  Gen.  Greene 
was  sent,  with  all  the  force  which  Washington  could  spare,  to 
watch  and  harass  the  invaders,  and  to  furnish  the  inhabitants 
with  all  the  protection  in  his  power.  Lafayette  was  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  New  York,  with  his  eagle  eye  fixed  upon  the  foe,  ready  to 
pounce  upon  any  detachment  which  presented  the  slightest  ex- 
posure. Washington  was  everywhere,  -^ith  patriotism  which 
never  flagged,  with  hope  which  never  failed,  cheering  the  army, 
animating  the  inhabitants,  rousing  Congress,  and  guiding  with  his 
well-balanced  mind  both  militar}"  and  civil  legislation.  Thus  the 
dreary  summer  of  1780  lingered  away  in  our  war-scathed  land. 

Again  our  heroic  little  army  went  into  winter-quarters,  mainly 
on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  As  the  spring  of  1781  opened,  the 
war  was  renewed.  The  British  directed  their  chief  attention  to 
the  South,  which  was  far  weaker  than  the  North.  Richmond,  in 
Virginia,  was  laid  in  ashes ;  and  a  general  system  of  devastation 
and  plunder  prevailed.  The  enemy  ascended  the  Chesapeake  and 
the  Potomac  with  armed  vessels.  They  landed  at  Mount  Vernon. 
The  manager  of  the  estate,  to  save  the  mansion  from  pillage  and 
flames,  furnished  the  legalized  robbers  with  al)undance  of  supplies. 
Washington  was  much  displeased.     He  wrote  to  his  agent,  — 

"  It  would  have  been  a  less  painful  circumstance  to  me  to  have 
heard,  that,  in  consequence  of  your  non-compliance  with  their 
request,  they  had  burned  my  house,  and  laid  the  plantation  in 
ruins.  You  ought  to  have  considered  yourself  as  my  representa- 
tive, and  should  have  reflected  on  the  bad  example  of  communi- 
cating with  the  enemy,  and  making  a  voluntary  offer  of  refresh- 
ments to  them,  with  a  view  to  prevent  a  conflagration." 

The  prospects  of  the  country  were  still  very  dark.  On  the  1st 
of  May,  1781,  Washington  wrote,  ''  Instead  of  magazines  filled 
with  provisions,  we  have  a  scanty  pittance  scattered  here  and 
there  in  the  diflerent  States.  Instead  of  arsenals  well  supplied, 
they  are  poorly  provided,  and  the  workmen  all  leaving.  Instead 
of  having  field-equipage  in  readiness,  the  quartermaster-general 
is  but  now  applying  to  the  several  States  to  supply  these  things.  ' 


GEOBGE   WASHINGTON.  47 

Instead  of  having  the  regiments  completed,  scarce  any  State  has, 
at  this  hour,  an  eighth  part  of  its  quota  in  the  field ;  and  there  is 
little  prospect  of  their  ever  getting  more  than  half.  In  a  word, 
instead  of  having  every  thing  in  readiness  to  take  the  field,  we 
have  nothing.  Instead  of  having  the  prospect  of  a  glorious  offen- 
sive campaign,  we  have  a  gloomy  and  bewildering  defensive  one, 
unless  we  should  receive  a  powerful  aid  of  ships,  land-troops,  and 
money,  from  our  generous  allies." 

The  army  had  in  fact,  about  this  time,  dwindled  away  to  three 
thousand ;  and  the  paper-money  issued  by  Congress,  with  which 
the  troops  were  paid,  had  become  almost  entirely  valueless.  Lord 
Cornwallis  was  now  at  Yorktown,  in  Virginia,  but  a  few  miles 
from  Chesapeake  Bay.  There  was  no  force  in  his  vicinity  seri- 
ously to  annoy  him.  Washington  resolved,  in  conjunction  with 
our  allies  from  France,  to  make  a  bold  movement  for  his  capture. 
He  succeeded  in  deceiving  the  English  into  the  belief  that  he  was 
making  great  preparations  for  the  siege  of  New  York.  Thus  they 
were  prevented  from  rendering  any  aid  to  Yorktown. 

By  rapid  marches,  Washington  hastened  to  encircle  the  foe. 
Early  in  September,  Lord  Cornwallis,  as  he  arose  one  morning,  was 
amazed  to  see,  in  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun,  the  heights  around 
him  gleaming  with  the  bayonets  and  the  batteries  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. At  about  the  same  hour,  the  French  fleet  appeared,  in 
invincible  strength,  before  the  harbor.  Cornwallis  was  caught. 
There  was  no  escape  ;  there  was  no  retreat.  Neither  by  land 
nor  by  sea  could  he  obtain  any  supplies.  Shot  and  shell  soon 
began  to  fall  thickly  into  his  despairing  lines.  Famine  stared 
him  in  the  face.  After  a  few  days  of  hopeless  conflict,  on  the 
19th  of  October,  1781,  he  was  compelled  to  surrender.  Seven 
thousand  British  veterans  laid  down  tlieir  arms  to  the  victors. 
One  hundred  and  sixty  pieces  of  cannon,  with  corresponding 
military  stores,  graced  the  triumph.  Without  the  assistance  of 
our  generous  alhes  the  French,  we  could  not  have  gained  this 
victory.     Let  not  our  gratitude  be  stinted  or  cold. 

When  the  British  soldiers  were  marching  from  their  intrench- 
ments  to  lay  down  their  arms,  Washington  thus  addressed  his 
troops :  "  My  brave  fellows,  let  no  sensation  of  satisfaction  for 
the  triumphs  j'ou  have  gained  induce  you  to  insult  your  fallen 
enemy.  Let  no  shouting,  no  clamorous  huzzaing,  increase  their 
mortification.     Posterity  will  huzza  for  us." 


48  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

This  glorious  capture  roused  hope  and  vigor  all  over  the 
country.  The  British  cabinet  became  disheartened  by  our  indom- 
itable perseverance.  The  darkness  of  the  long  night  was  passing 
away.  The  day  after  the  capitulation,  Washington  devoutly 
issued  the  following  order  to  the  army :  — 

"  Divine  service  is  to  be  performed  to-morrow  in  the  several 
brigades  and  divisions.  The  commander-in-chief  earnestly  rec- 
ommends that  the  troops  not  on  duty  should  universally  attend, 
with  that  seriousness  of  deportment,  and  gratitude  of  heart,  which 
the  recognition  of  such  reiterated  and  astonishing  interpositions 
of  Providence  demands  of  us." 

The  joyful  tidings  reached  Philadelphia  at  midnight.  A  watch- 
man traversed  the  streets,  shouting  at  intervals,  "  Past  twelve 
o'clock,  and  a  pleasant  morning.     Cornwallis  is  taken  !  " 

These  words  rang  upon  the  ear  almost  like  the  trump  which 
wakes  the  dead.  Candles  were  lighted ;  windows  thrown  up ; 
figures  in  night-robes  and  night-caps  bent  eagerly  out  to  catch 
the  thrilling  sound ;  shouts  were  raised ;  citizens  rushed  into  the 
streets,  half  clad,  —  they  wept ;  they  laughed.  The  news  flew 
upon  the  wings  of  the  wind,  nobody  can  tell  how ;  and  the  shout 
of  an  enfranchised  people  rose,  like  a  roar  of  thunder,  from  our 
whole  land.  With  France  for  an  ally,  and  with  such  a  victory,  the 
question  was  now  settled,  and  forever,  that  republican  America 
would  never  again  yield  to  the  aristocratic  government  of  England. 

Though  the  fury  of  the  storm  was  over,  the  billows  of  war  had 
not  yet  subsided.  Washington,  late  in  November,  1781,  again 
retired  to  winter-quarters.  He  urged  Congress  to  make  prepara- 
tions for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  in  the  spring,  as  the 
most  effectual  means  of  securing  a  speedy  and  an  honorable  peace. 
The  conviction  was  now  so  general  that  the  war  was  nearly  at  an 
end,  that  with  difEculty  ten  thousand  men  Avere  marshalled  in  the 
camp.  The  army,  disheartened  by  the  apparent  inefficiency  of 
Congress,  —  for  Congress  had  really  but  very  little  power,  being 
then  only  a  collection  of  delegates  from  independent  States,  —  very 
emphatically  expressed  the  wish  that  Washington  would  assume 
the  supreme  command  of  the  government,  and  organize  the  coun- 
try ittto  a  constitutional  kingdom,  wnth  himself  at  the  head. 

But  Washington  was  a  republican.  He  believed  that  the  peo- 
ple, of  this  country,  trained  in  the  science  of  legislation,  religious 
in  their  habits,  and  intelligent,  were  abundantly  capable  of  gov- 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  49 

erning  themselves.  He  repelled  the  suggestion  promptly,  and 
almost  indignantly. 

Early  in  May,  the  British  cabinet  opened  negotiations  for  peace. 
Hostilities  were,  by  each  party,  tacitly  laid  aside.  Negotiations 
were  protracted  in  Paris  during  the  summer  and  the  ensuing 
winter.  Washington  had  established  his  headquarters  at  New- 
burg,  on  the  Hudson,  and  was  busy  in  consolidating  the  interests 
of  our  divided  and  distracted  country.  A  government  of  repub- 
lican liberty,  and  yet  of  efficiency,  was  to  be  organizad  ;  and  its 
construction  required  the  highest  energies  of  every  thinking  mind. 

It  was  also  necessary  to  keep  the  army  ever  ready  for  battle  ; 
for  a  new  conflict  might,  at  any  moment,  break  out.  Thus  the 
summer  and  winter  of  1782  passed  away. 

The  snow  was  still  lingering  in  the  laps  of  the  Highlands  when 
the  joyful  tidings  arrived  that  a  treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed 
at  Paris.  The  intelHgence  was  communicated  to  the  American 
army  on  the  19th  of  April,  1783, — just  eight  years  from  the  day 
when  the  conflict  was  commenced  on  the  common  at  Lexington. 
England  had,  for  eight  years,  deluged  this  land  with  blood  and 
woe.  Thousands  had  perished  on  the  gory  field  of  battle ;  thou- 
sands had  been  beggared  ;  thousands  had  been  made  widows  and 
orphans,  and  doomed  to  a  life-long  wretchedness.  It  was  the  fear- 
ful price  which  America  paid  for  independence. 

Late  in  November,  the  British  evacuated  New  York,  entered 
their  ships,  and  sailed  for  their  distant  island.  Washington, 
marching  from  West  Point,  entered  the  city  as  our  vanquished 
foes  departed.  It  was  a  joyful  day,  and  no  untoward  incident 
marred  its  festivities.  America  was  free  and  independent. 
Washington  was  the  savior  of  his  country. 

And  now  the  day  arrived  when  Washington  was  to  take  leave 
of  his  companions  in  arms,  to  retire  to  his  beloved  retreat  at  Mount 
Vernon.  The  affecting  interview  took  place  on  the  4th  of  Decem- 
ber. Washington,  with  a  flushed  cheek  and  a  swimming  eye, 
entered  the  room  where  the  principal  officers  of  his  army  were 
assembled.     His  voice  trembled  with  emotion  as  he  said, — 

"  With  a  heart  full  of  love  and  gratitude,  I  now  take  leave  of 
you,  I  most  devoutly  wish  that  your  latter  days  may  be  as  pros- 
perous and  happy  as  your  former  ones  have  been  glorious  and 
honorable.  I  cannot  come  to  each  of  you  to  take  my  leave,  but 
shall  be  obliged  if  each  of  you  will  come  and  take  me  by  the  hand." 
7 


50 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


All  unaccustomed  as  Washington  was  to  exhibit  emotion,  ho 
was  now  quite  overcome.  Tears  blinded  his  eyes,  and  he  could 
say  no  moro.  One  after  another,  these  heroic  men  silently  grasped 
his  hand  in  this  last  parting.  Not  a  word  was  spoken.  It  was  a 
scene  of  those  invisible  stragglings  of  the  spirit  which  the  pen- 
cil cannot  picture,  and  which  words  cannot  describe.  Washington 
travelled  slowly  towards  his  beloved  home  at  Mount  Vernon,  from 
which  he  had  so  long  been  absent.  In  every  city  and  village 
through  which  he  passed,  he  was  greeted  with  love  and  veneration. 
At  Annapolis  he  met  the  Continental  Congress,  where  he  was  to 
resign  his  commission.  It  was  the  23d  of  December,  1783.  All 
the  members  of  Congress,  and  a  large  concourse  of  spectators,  were 
present.     His  address  was  closed  with  the  following  words :  — 

"  Having  now  finished  the  work  assigned  me,  I  retire  from  the 
great  theatre  of  action ;  and  bidding  an  affectionate  farewell  to 
this  august  body,  under  whose  orders  I  have  so  long  acted,  I  here 
ofier  my  commission,  and  take  my  leave  of  all  the  employments 
of  public  life." 


^^-j^^so 


MOUNT   VERNON. 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  51 

The  next  day,  he  returned  to  Mount  Vernon.  The  following 
extract  from  a  letter  which  he  then  wrote  to  Lafayette  reveals 
those  gentle  and  domestic  traits  of  character  which  had  been 
somewhat  veiled  by  the  stern  duties  of  his  military  career :  — 

"  At  length,  I  am  become  a  private  citizen :  and  under  the 
shadow  of  my  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  free  from  the  bustle  of  a  camp 
and  the  busy  scenes  of  public  life,  I  am  solacing  myself  with  those 
tranquil  enjoyments,  of  which  the  soldier,  who  is  ever  in  pursuit 
of  fame :  the  statesman,  whose  watchful  days  and  sleepless  nights 
are  spent  in  devising  schemes  to  promote  the  welfare  of  his  own, 
perhaps  the  ruin  of  other  countries,  as  if  this  globe  were  insuffi- 
cient for  us  all ;  and  the  courtier,  who  is  always  watching  the 
countenance  of  his  prince,  in  hopes  of  catching  a  gracious  smile, 
—  can  have  very  little  conception.  Envious  of  none,  I  am  deter- 
mined to  be  pleased  with  all.  And  this,  my  dear  friend,  being  the 
order  for  my  march,  I  will  move  gently  down  the  stream  of  life 
until  I  sleep  with  my  fathers." 

The  great  problem  which  now  engrossed  all  minds  was  the  con- 
solidation of  the  thirteen  States  of  America  in  some  way  which 
should  secure  to  the  States  certain  reserved  rights  of  local  admin- 
istration ;  while  a  nation  should  be  formed,  with  a  general  govern- 
menf,  which  could  exert  the  energies  of  centralized  power,  and 
thus  take  its  stand,  the  equal  in  efficiency,  with  the  renowned 
kingdoms  and  empires  of  earth.  The  old  confederacy,  which  was 
merely  a  conglomeration  of  independent  States,  had  developed 
such  utter  weakness,  that  all  thoughts  were  turned  to  the  organi- 
zation of  a  government  upon  a  difierent  principle. 

To  this  subject,  Washington,  who  had  suffered  so  intensely  from 
the  inefficiency  of  the  Continental  Congress,  devoted  his  most 
anxious  attention.  A  convention  was  called  to  deliberate  upon 
this  momentous  question.  It  assembled  at  Philadelphia  in  the 
year  1787.  Washington  was  sent  a  delegate  from  Virginia,  and, 
by  unanimous  vote,  was  placed  in  the  president's  chair.  The 
result  was  the  present  Constitution  of  the  United  States  ;  which, 
rejecting  a  mere  confederacy  of  independent  States,  created  a 
nation  from  the  people  of  all  the  States,  with  supreme  powers  for 
all  the  purposes  of  a  general  government,  and  leaving  with  the 
States,  as  State  governments  leave  with  the  towns,  those  minor  ques- 
tions of  local  law  in  which  the  integrity  of  the  nation  was  not 
involved.     The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is,  in  the  judg- 


52  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

ment  of  the  millions  of  the  American  people,  the  most  sagacious 
document  which  has  ever  emanated  from  uninspired  minds.  It 
has  created  the  strongest  government  upon  this  globe.  It  has 
made  the  United  States  of  America  what  they  now  are.  The 
world  must  look  at  the  fruit,  and  wonder  and  admire. 

It  is  stated  in  the  Madison  Papers,  that,  in  the  convention  which 
framed  our  Constitution,  it  was  proposed  that  the  title  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  should  be  His  Excellency ;  but 
the  Committee  of  Style  and  Arrangement  negatived  this,  and 
reported  in  favor  of  the  simple  title  of  President  of  the  United 
States.  It  has  been  said  that,  this  was  done  at  the  instance  of  Dr. 
Franklin,  who,  when  the  question  was  under  discussion,  sarcas- 
tically proposed  to  insert  immediately  after  "  His  Excellency  " 
the  words,  "And  the  Vice-President  shall  be  styled.  His  most  su- 
perfluous Highness." 

There  were  some  provisions  in  the  compromises  of  the  Consti- 
tution from  which  the  heart  and  mind  of  Washington  recoiled. 
He  had  fought  for  human  liberty,  —  to  give  to  the  masses  of  the 
people  those  rights  of  which  aristocratic  usurpation  had  so  long 
defrauded  them.  "All  men  are  born  free  and  equal"  was  the 
motto  of  the  banner  under  which  he  had  rallied  his  strength. 
Equal  rights,  under  the  law,  for  all  men,  was  the  corner-stone  of 
that  American  democracy  which  Washington,  Adams,  and  Jeflfer- 
son  wished  to  establish ;  but  there  was  a  spirit  of  aristocracy,  of 
exclusive  rights  for  peculiar  classes  and  races,  which  infused  its 
poison  into  the  Constitution,  and  which  subsequently  worked  out 
its  natural  fruit  of  woe  and  death.  Alluding  to  the  unfortunate 
compromise  which  this  spirit  insisted  upon,  in  reference  to  slavery 
and  the  colored  people,  Washington  wrote, — 

"There  are  some  things  in  tliis  new  form,  I  will  readily  ac- 
knowledge, which  never  did,  and  I  am  persuaded  never  will, 
obtain  my  cordial  approbation.  But  I  did  then  conceive,  and  do 
now  most  firmly  believe,  that,  in  the  aggregate,  it  is  the  best 
constitution  that  can  be  obtained  at  the  epoch,  and  that  this,  or  a 
dissolution,  awaits  our  choice,  and  is  the  only  alternative." 

Upon  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  all  eyes  were  turned  to 
Washington  as  chief  magistrate.  By  the  unanimous  voice  of  the 
electors,  he  was  chosen  the  first  President  of  the  United  States. 
There  was  probably  scarcely  a  dissentient  voice  in  the  nation. 
New  York  was  then  the  seat  of  government.     As  Washington 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  53 

left  Mount  Vernon  for  the  metropolis  to  assume  these  new  duties 
of  toil  and  care,  we  find  recorded  in  his  journal,  — 

"  About  ten  o'clock,  I  bade  adieu  to  Mount  Vernon,  to  private 
life,  and  to  domestic  felicity;  and,  with  a  mind  oppressed  with 
more  anxious  and  painful  sensations  than  I  have  words  to  express, 
set  out  for  New  York,  with  the  best  disposition  to  render  service 
to  my  country  in  obedience  to  its  call,  but  with  less  hopes  of 
answering  its  expectations." 

"Washington  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United  States 
on  the  30th  of  April,  1789.  He  remained  in  the  presidential  chair 
two  terms,  of  four  years  each.  At  the  close  of  his  illustrious  ad- 
ministration, in  the  year  1796,  he  again  retired  to  the  peaceful 
shades  of  Mount  Vernon,  bequeathing  to  his  grateful  countrymen 
the  rich  legacy  of  his  Farewell  Address.  The  admiration  with 
which  these  parting  counsels  were  received  never  will  wane. 
Soon  after  Washington's  return  to  his  beloved  retreat  at  Mount 
Vernon,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  a  friend,  in  which  he  described  the 
manner  in  which  he  passed  his  time.  He  rose  with  the  sun,  and 
first  made  preparations  for  the  business  of  the  day. 

"By  the  time  I  have  accomplished  these  matters,"  he  adds, 
"  breakfast  is  ready.  This  being  over,  I  mount  my  horse,  and 
ride  round  my  farms,  which  employs  me  until  it  is  time  to  dress 
for  dinner,  at  which  I  rarely  miss  to  see  strange  faces,  come,  as 
they  say,  out  of  respect  to  me.  And  how  different  is  this  from 
having  a  few  friends  at  the  social  board  !  The  usual  time  of  sit- 
ting at  table,  a  walk,  and  tea,  bring  me  within  the  dawn  of  candle- 
light ;  previous  to  which,  if  not  prevented  by  company,  I  resolve, 
that,  as  soon  as  the  glimmering  taper  supplies  the  place  of  the 
great  luminary,  I  will  retire  to  my  writing-table,  and  acknowledge 
the  letters  I  have  received.  Having  given  you  this  history  of  a 
day,  it  will  serve  for  a  year." 

The  following  anecdotes  have  been  related,  illustrative  of  Presi- 
dent Washington's  habits  of  punctuality.  Whenever  he  assigned 
to  meet  Congress  at  noon,  he  seldom  failed  of  passing  the  door  of 
the  hall  when  the  clock  struck  twelve.  His  dining-hour  was  at 
four  o'clock,  when  he  always  sat  down  to  his  table,  whether  his 
guests  were  assembled  or  not,  merely  allowing  five  minutes  for 
the  variation  of  time-pieces.  To  those  who  came  late,  he  re- 
marked, "  Gentlemen,  we  are  punctual  here  :  my  cook  never  asks 
whether  the  company  has  arrived,  but  whether  the  hour  has." 


54  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

When  visiting  Boston,  in  1789,  he  appointed  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning  as  the  hour  when  he  would  set  out  for  Salem ;  and,  while 
the  Old-South  clock  was  striking  eight,  he  was  mounting  his  sad- 
dle. The  company  of  cavalry  which  had  volunteered  to  escort 
him,  not  anticipating  this  punctuality,  did  not  overtake  him  until 
he  had  reached  Charles-River  Bridge.  As  the  troops  came  hurry- 
ing up,  the  President  said  to  their  commander  with  a  good-natured 
smile,  "  Major,  I  thought  you  had  been  too  long  in  my  family  not  to 
know  when  it  was  eight  o'clock." 

Capt.  Pease  had  purchased  a  beautiful  span  of  horses,  which  he 
wished  to  sell  to  the  President.  The  President  appointed  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning  to  examine  them  at  his  stable.  The  cap- 
tain arrived,  with  his  span,  at  quarter-past  five.  He  was  told  by 
the  groom  that  the  President  was  there  at  five  o'clock,  but  was 
then  gone  to  attend  to  other  engagements.  The  President's  time 
was  wholly  pre-occupied  for  several  days ;  so  that  Capt.  Pease  had 
to  remain  a  whole  week  in  Philadelphia  before  he  could  get 
another  opportunity  to  exhibit  his  span. 

Washington,  having  inherited  a  large  landed  estate  in  Virginia, 
was,  as  a  matter  of  course,  a  slaveholder.  The  whole  number 
which  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  one  hundred  and 
twenty-four.  The  system  met  his  strong  disapproval.  In  1786, 
he  wrote-  to  Robert  Morris,  saying,  "  There  is  no  man  living  who 
wishes  more  sincerely  than  I  do  to  see  a  plan  adopted  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery." 

Lafayette,  that  true  friend  of  popular  rights,  was  extremely 
anxious  to  free  our  country  from  the  reproach  which  slavery 
brought  upon  it.  Washington  wrote  to  him  in  1788,  "  The 
scheme,  my  dear  marquis,  which  you  propose  as  a  precedent  to 
encourage  the  emancipation  of  the  black  people  of  this  country 
from  the  state  of  bondage  in  which  they  are  held,  is  a  striking 
evidence  of  the  state  of  your  heart.  I  shall  be  happy  to  join  you 
in  so  laudable  a  work." 

In  his  last  will  and  testament,  he  inscribed  these  noble  words : 
"  Upon  the  decease  of  my  wife,  it  is  my  will  and  desire  that  all 
the  slaves  which  I  hold  in  my  own  right  shall  receive  their  free- 
dom. To  emancipate  them  during  her  life  would,  though  earnestly 
wished  by  me,  be  attended  with  such  insuperable  difficulties,  on 
account  of  their  mixture  by  marriage  with  the  dower  negroes,  as 
^o  excite  the  most  painful  sensation,  if  not  disagreeable  conse- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  '  55 

quences,  from  the  latter,  while  both  descriptions  are  in  the  occu- 
pancy of  the  same  proprietor;  it  not  being  in  my  power,  under  the 
tenure  by  which  the  dower  negroes  are  held,  to  manumit  them." 

Long  before  this,  he  had  recorded  his  resolve  :  "  I  never  mean, 
unless  some  particular  circumstances  should  compel  me  to  it,  to 
possess  another  slave  by  purchase ;  it  being  among  my  first 
wishes  to  see  some  plan  adopted  by  which  slavery  in  this  coun- 
try may  be  abolished  by  law," 

Mrs.  Washington,  immediately  after  her  husband's  death,  learn- 
ing from  his  will  that  the  only  obstacle  to  the  immediate  emanci- 
pation of  the  slaves  was  her  right  of  dower,  immediately  relin- 
quished that  right,  and  the  slaves  were  at  once  emancipated. 

The  12th  of  December,  1799,  was  chill  and  damp.  Washington, 
however,  took  his  usual  round  on  horseback  to  his  farms,  and 
returned  late  in  the  afternoon,  wet  with  sleet,  and  shivering  with 
cold.  Though  the  snow  was  clinging  to  his  hair  behind  when  he 
came  in,  he  sat  down  to  dinner  without  changing  his  dress.  The 
next  day,  three  inches  of  snow  whitened  the  ground,  and  the  sky 
was  clouded.  Washington,  feeling  that  he  had  taken  cold,  re- 
mained by  the  fireside  during  the  morning.  As  it  cleared  up  in 
the  afternoon,  he  went  out  to  superintend  some  work  upon  the 
lawn.  He  was  then  hoarse,  and  the  hoarseness  increased  as  night 
came  on.  He,  however,  took  no  remedy  for  it ;  saying,  "  I  never 
take  any  thing  to  carry  off  a  cold.     Let  it  go  as  it  came." 

He  passed  the  evening  as  usual,  reading  the  papers,  answering 
letters,  and  conversing  with  his  family.  About  two  o'clock  the 
next  morning,  Saturday,  the  14th,  he  awoke  in  an  ague-chill,  and 
was  seriously  unwell.  At  sunrise,  his  physician.  Dr.  Craig,  who 
resided  at  Alexandria,  was  sent  for.  In  the  mean  time,  he  was 
bled  by  one  of  his  overseers,  but  with  no  relief,  as  he  rapidly 
grew  worse.  Dr.  Craig  reached  Mount  Vernon  at  eleven  o'clock, 
ar.d  immediately  bled  his  patient  again,  but  without  efi'ect.  Two 
consulting  physicians  arrived  during  the  day;  and,  as  the  difSculty 
in  breathing  and  swallowing  rapidly  increased,  venesection  was 
again  attempted.  It  is  evident  that  Washington  then  considered 
his  case  doubtful.  He  examined  his  will,  and  destroyed  some 
papers  which  he  did  not  wish  to  have  preserved. 

His  sufferings  from  inflammation  of  the  throat,  and  struggling 
for  breath,  as  the  afternoon  wore  away,  became  quite  severe. 
Still  he  retained  his  mental  faculties  unimpaired,  and  spoke  briefly 


56  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

of  his  approaching  death  and  burial.  About  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  he  said  to  Dr.  Craig,  "  1  die  hard ;  but  I  am  not  afraid 
to  go.  I  believed,  from  my  first  attack,  that  I  should  not  survive 
it :  my  breath  cannot  last  long."  About  six  o'clock,  his  physician 
asked  him  if  he  would  sit  up  in  his  bed.  He  held  out  his 
hands,  and  was  raised  up  on  his  pillow,  when  he  said,  "  I  feel  that 
I  am  going.  I  thank  you  for  your  attentions.  You  had  better 
not  take  any  more  trouble  about  me,  but  let  me  go  oflF  quietly.  I 
cannot  last  long." 

He  then  sank  back  upon  his  pillow,  and  made  several  unavailing 
attempts  to  speak  intelligibly.  About  ten  o'clock,  he  said,  "  I  am 
just  going.  Have  me  decently  buried,  and  do  not  let  my  body 
be  put  into  the  vault  until  three  days  after  I  am  dead.  Do  you 
understand  me  ?  "  To  the  reply,  ''  Yes,  sir,"  he  remarked,  "  It  is 
well."  These  were  the  last  words  he  uttered.  Soon  after  this, 
he  gently  expired,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age. 

At  the  moment  of  his  death,  Mrs.  Washington  sat  in  silent 
grief  at  the  foot  of  his  bed.  "  Is  he  gone  ?  "  she  asked  in  a  firm 
and  collected  voice.  The  physician,  unable  to  speak,  gave  a 
silent  signal  of  assent.  ''  'Tis  well,"  she  added  in  the  same 
untremulous  utterance.  "  All  is  now  over.  I  shall  soon  follow 
him.     I  have  no  more  trials  to  pass  through." 

On  the  18th,  his  remains  were  deposited  in  the  tomb  at  Mount 
Vernon,  where  they  now  repose,  enshrined  in  a  nation's  love ;  and 
his  fame  will  forever,  as  now,  fill  the  world. 


CHAPTER    n. 

JOHN    ADAMS. 

Ancestry  of  John  Adams.  —  Anecdote  of  his  Boyhood.  —  State  of  the  Country.  —  Marriage. 

—  British  Assumptions.  —  Riot  in  Boston.  —  Adams's  Defence  of  the  Soldiers.  —  Anec- 
dote. —  Patriotism  of  Adams.  —  The  Continental  Congress.  —  His  Influence  in  Congress. 

—  Energj'  of  Mrs.  Adams.  —  The  Appointment  of  Washington.  —  The  Declaration  of 
Independence. — Letter  from  Mrs.  Adams. — Interview  with  Lord  Howe.  —  Journey  to 
Baltimore.  —  Delegate  to  France.  —  The  Voyage.  —  Adams  and  Franklin.  —  The  Con- 
trast. —  Franklin  and  Voltaire.  —  Second  Trip  to  Paris.  —  Successful  Mission  to  Holland. 

—  Conflict  with  the  French  Court.  —  Mission  to  England.  —  Presidential  Career.  —  Last 
Days  and  Death. 

J  OHN  Adams  was  born  in  the  present  town  of  Quincy,  then  a 
portion  of  Braintree,  on  the  30th  of  October,  1735.  His  father's 
elder  brother,  Joseph,  had  been  educated  at  Harvard,  and  was, 
for  upwards  of  sixty  years,  minister  of  a  Congregational  church 
at  Newington,  N.H.  The  father  of  John  Adams  was  a  farmer 
of  moderate  means,  a  worthy,  industrious  man,  toiling  early  and 
late  for  the  very  frugal  support  which  such  labor  could  fur- 
nish his  family.  The  fact  that  he  was  a  deacon  of  the  church 
attests  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  community.  Like 
most  Christian  fathers,  he  was  anxious  to  give  his  son  a  collegiate 
education,  hoping  that  he  would  become  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 

But,  like  most  boys,  John  Adams  was  not  fond  of  his  books.  In 
the  bright,  sunny  morning  of  his  boyhood  in  Braintree,  with  the 
primeval  forest  waving  around,  the  sunlight  sleeping  upon  the 
meadows,  the  sparkUng  brooks  alive  with  trout,  and  the  ocean 
rolling  in  its  grandeur  before  him,  out-door  life  seemed  far  more 
attractive  than  the  seclusion  of  the  study,  and  the  apparent  mo- 
notony of  life  in  the  midst  of  books.  "When  he  was  about  fourteen 
years  of  age,  his  father  said  to  him,  "  My  son,  it  is  time  for  you  to 
decide  respecting  your  future  occupation  in  life.  What  business 
do  you  wish  to  follow  ?  " 

"  I  wish  to  be  a  farmer,"  the  energetic  boy  replied. 

"  Very  well,"  said  the  judicious  father :  "  it  is  time  now  for  you 
to  commence  your  life-work.  You  must  give  up  play,  and  enter 
upon  that  steady,  hard  work,  without  which  no  farmer  can  get  a 

8  1^7 


58  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

living."  The  next  morning,  at  an  early  hour,  John  was  with  his 
hoe  alone  in  the  field.  He  worked  all  the  morning  till  noon ; 
came  home  to  his  dinner ;  returned  to  the  field  ;  worked  all  the 
afternoon  till  night.  As  he  hoed,  he  thought.  The  blue  sky  was 
above  him ;  but  there  was  also  a  blazing,  scorching  sun.  The 
forest  waved  around.  He  would  have  enjoyed  wandering  through 
it  with  his  gun  ;  but  that  was  boy's  play  which  he  had  given  up, 
not  farmer's  work  upon  which  he  had  entered.  Work,  work, 
work,  was  now  to  him  life's  doom ;  and  forest,  brook,  and  ocean 
strangely  lost  their  charms. 

In  the  evening  he  said  to  his  father,  with  some  considerable 
hesitation,  "  Father,  I  have  been  thinking  to-day,  and  have  con- 
cluded that  I  should  like  to  try  my  books."  His  father  offered 
no  objections,  and  was  willing  to  make  every  efibrt  in  his  power 
to  indulge  his  son  in  his  choice,  if  he  were  determined  to  devote 
all  his  energies  to  the  acquisition  of  an  education.  There  was  a 
very  good  school  in  the  town,  and  John  laid  aside  his  hoe  for  his 
grammar.  He  entered  Harvard  College  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and 
graduated  in  1755,  highly  esteemed  for  integrity,  energy,  and 
ability.  He  must  have  struggled  with  small  means ;  for  his  father 
found  it  necessary  to  add  to  his  labors  as  a  farmer  the  occupation 
of  a  shoemaker,  to  meet  the  expenses  of  his  household.  When 
John  graduated  at  twenty  years  of  age,  he  was  considered  as 
having  received  his  full  share  of  the  small  paternal  patrimony ; 
and,  with  his  education  as  his  only  capital,  he  went  out  to  take  his 
place  in  the  conflicts  of  this  stormy  world.  The  first  thing  the 
young  graduate  needed  was  money.  He  obtained  the  situation 
of  instructor  in  one  of  the  public  schools  in  Worcester.  While 
teaching  school,  he  also  studied  law.  All  thoughts  of  the  minis- 
terial profession  were  soon  abandoned. 

This  was  a  period  of  great  political  excitement.  France  and 
England  were  then  engaged  in  their  great  seven-years'  struggle 
for  the  mastery  over  this  continent.  Braddock  had  just  suffered 
his  ignoble  defeat.  A  young  Virginian  by  the  name  of  George 
Washington,  who  had  saved  Braddock's  army,  was  then  beginning 
to  be  known.  The  colonies  were  in  great  peril.  The  question, 
whether  French  or  English  influence  was  to  dominate  on  this  con- 
tinent, was  trembling  in  the  balance.  A  large  number  of  the 
young  men  of  the  colonies  were  called  to  the  camp,  and  the  great 
theroe  engrossed  every  miml.     At  this  time,  John  Adams  wrote  a 


JOHN  ADAMS.  59 

very  remarkable  letter  to  a  frierKj,  in  which,  with  almost  prophetic 
vision,  he  described  the  future  greatness  of  this  country, — a 
prophecy  which  time  has  more  than  fulfilled. 

To  these  engrossing  themes  young  Adams  consecrated  all  the 
enthusiasm  of  his  nature.  He  thought,  he  talked,  he  wrote.  He 
hesitated  whether  to  give  himself  to  law,  to  politics,  or  to  the 
army.  Could  he  have  obtained  a  troop  of  horse,  or  a  company  of 
foot,  he  declares  that  he  should  infallibly  have  been  a  soldier. 

For  two  years,  John  Adams  remained  in  Worcester,  then  a  town 
of  but  a  few  hundred  inhabitants,  teaching  a  public  school  and 
studying  law.  He  was  a  very  earnest  student.  His  journal 
proves,  that,  inspired  by  a  noble  ambition,  he  consecrated  his 
time,  with  great  moral  courage  and  self  denial,  to  intellectual  cul- 
ture.  Speaking  of  the  profligate  lives  of  some  of  the  young  men 
around  him,  he  writes,  — 

"  What  pleasure  can  a  young  gentleman,  who  is  capable  of 
thinking,  take  in  playing  cards  ?  It  gratifies  none  of  the  senses. 
It  can  entertain  the  mind  only  by  hushing  its  clamors.  Cards, 
backgammon,  &c.,  are  the  great  antidotes  to  reflection,  to  think- 
ing. What  learning  and  sense  are  we  to  expect  from  young  gen- 
tlemen in  whom  a  fondness  for  cards,  &c.,  outgrows  and  chokes 
the  desire  of  knowledge  ?  " 

When  but  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  returned  to  hi^  native 
town  of  Braintree,  and,  opening  a  law-office,  devoted  himself  to 
study  with  renewed  vigor.  Soon  after  this,  his  father  died ;  and  he 
continued  to  reside  with  his  mother  and  a  brother,  who  had  taken 
the  farm.  His  native  powers  of  mind,  and  untiring  devotion  to  his 
profession,  caused  him  to  rise  rapidly  in  public  esteem.  In  Octo- 
ber, 1764,  he  married  Miss  Abigail  Smith,  daughter  of  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Smith,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Weymouth.  She  was  a  lady 
of  very  rare  endowments  of  person  and  of  mind,  and,  by  the  force 
of  her  character,  contributed  not  a  little  to  her  husband's  celebrity. 
The  British  Government  was  now  commencing  that  career  of 
aggressions  upon  the  rights  of  the  colonists  which  aroused  the 
most  determined  resistance,  and  which  led  to  that  cruel  war 
which  resulted  in  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  An  order  was 
issued  by  the  British  crown,  imposing  taxes  upon  certain  goods, 
and  authorizing  an  indiscriminate  search  to  find  goods  which 
might  have  evaded  the  tax.  The  legality  of  the  law  was  con- 
tested before  the  Superior  Court.    James  Otis  was  engaged  by 


60  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

the  merchants  to  argue  their  cause  against  this  encroachment  ot 
arbitrary  power.  With  consummate  abihty  he  performed  his  task. 
John  Adams  was  a  delighted  listener. 

"  Otis,"  he  wrote,  "  was  a  flame  of  fire.  With  a  promptitude  of 
classical  allusion,  a  depth  of  research,  a  rapid  summary  of  his- 
torical events  and  dates,  a  profusion  of  legal  authorities,  and  a 
prophetic  glance  of  his  eyes  into  futurity,  he  hurried  away  all 
before  him.  American  independence  was  then  and  there  horn. 
Every  man  of  an  immensely  crowded  audience  appeared  to  me  to 
go  away,  as  I  did,  ready  to  take  up  arms." 

A  literary  club  was  about  this  time  formed  of  prominent  gen- 
tlemen of  the  bar,  which  met  once  a  week  in  a  small  social  circle, 
at  each  other's  houses,  to  discuss  subjects  of  popular  interest. 
Mr.  Adams  read  an  essay  upon  the  state  of  aflairs,  which  was 
pubhshed  in  the  journals,  republished  in  England,  and  which 
attracted  great  attention.  The  friends  of  the  colonists  in  England 
pronounced  it  "  one  of  the  very  best  productions  ever  seen  from 
North  America." 

The  memorable  Stamp  Act  was  now  issued ;  and  Adams,  gather- 
ing up  his  strength  to  resist  these  encroachments,  entered  with 
all  the  ardor  of  his  soul  into  political  life.  He  drew  up  a  series 
of  resolutions,  remonstrating  against  the  Stamp  Act,  which  were 
adopted  at  a  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  at  Braintree,  and 
which  were  subsequently  adopted,  word  for  word,  by  more  than 
forty  towns  in  the  State.  Popular  commotion  prevented  the  land- 
ing of  the  Stamp-Act  papers.  This  stopped  all  legal  processes, 
and  closed  the  courts.  The  town  of  Boston  sent  a  petition  to  the 
governor  that  the  courts  might  be  re-opened.  Jeremy  Gridley, 
James  Otis,  and  John  Adams,  were  chosen  to  argue  the  cause  of 
the  petitioners  before  the  governor  and  council.  Mr.  Gridley 
urged  upon  the  council  the  great  distress  which  the  closing  of 
the  courts  was  causing.  Mr.  Otis  argued  that  this  distress  fully 
warranted  them  to  open  the  courts,  while  the  question  was"  being 
referred  to  the  authorities  beyond  the  sea ;  but  John  Adams 
boldly  took  the  ground  that  the  Stamp  Act  was  an  assumption  of 
arbitrary  power,  violating  both  the  English  Constitution  and  the 
charter  of  the  province.  It  is  said  that  this  was  the  first  direct 
denial  of  the  unlimited  right  of  parliament  over  the  colonies. 

Soon  after  this,  the  Stamp  Act  was  repealed.  Mr.  Adams  now 
entered  upon  a  distinguished  political  career.     A  press-gang  from 


JOHN  ADAMS.  61 

a  king's  ship  in  the  harbor  of  Boston  seized  a  young  American 
by  the  name  of  Ansell  Nickerson.  The  intrepid  sailor  thrust  a 
harpoon  through  the  heart  of  Lieut.  Panton,  the  leader  of  the 
gang.  He  was  tried  for  murder.  John  Adams  defended  him. 
He  argued  that  the  usage  of  impressment  had  never  extended  to 
the  colonies ;  that  the  attempt  to  impress  Nickerson  was  unlaw- 
ful ;  that  his  act  of  killing  his  assailant  was  justifiable  homicide. 
The  hero  was  acquitted,  and  the  principle  was  established,  that 
the  infamous  royal  prerogative  of  impressment  could  have  no  ex- 
istence in  the  code  of  colonial  law. 

To  suppress  the  spirit  of  independence,  daily  becoming  more 
manifest  among  the  people,  the  British  crown  sent  two  regiments 
of  soldiers  to  Boston.  A  more  obnoxious  menace  could  not  have 
been  devised.  The  populace  insulted  the  soldiers  :  the  soldiers 
retaliated  with  insolence  and  threats. 

On  the  5th  of  March,  1770,  a  small  party  of  soldiers,  thus 
assailed,  fired  upon  the  crowd  in  State  Street,  Boston,  killing  and 
wounding  several.  Mutual  exasperation  was  now  roused  almost 
to  frenzy.  The  lieutenant  and  six  soldiers  were  arrested,  and 
tried  for  murder.  Very  nobly,  and  with  moral  courage  rarely 
equalled,  John  Adams  and  Josiah  Quincy  undertook  the  task  of 
their  defence.  They  encountered  unmeasured  obloquy.  They 
were  stigmatized  as  deserters  from  the  cause  of  popular  liberty, 
and  the  bribed  advocates  of  tyranny.  But  both  of  these  ardent 
patriots  had*  witnessed  with  alarm  the  rise  of  mob  violence,  and 
they  felt  deeply  that  there  was  no  tyranny  so  dreadful  as  that  of 
anarchy.  Better  it  was,  a  thousand-fold,  to  be  under  the  domina- 
tion of  the  worst  of  England's  kings  than  that  of  a  lawless  mob. 

An  immense  and  excited  auditory  was  present  at  the  trial.  The 
first  sentence  with  which  John  Adams  opened  his  defence  pro- 
duced an  electrical  eflfect  upon  the  court  and  the  crowd.  It  was 
as  follows :  — 

"  May  it  please  your  honors,  and  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  I 
am  for  the  prisoners  at  the  bar,  and  shall  apologize  for  it  only  in 
the  words  of  the  Marquis  Beccaria:  'If  I  can  be  the  instrument 
of  preserving  one  life,  his  blessing,  and  tears  of  transport,  shall  be 
a  sufficient  consolation  to  me  for  the  contempt  of  all  mankind.' " 

Capt,  Preston  and  the  soldiers  were  acquitted,  excepting  two, 
who  were  found  guilty  of  manslaughter,  and  received  a  very  slight 
punishment.    Though  Boston  instituted  an  annual  commemoration 


62  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

of  the  massacre,  Mr.  Adams's  popularity  suffered  so  little,  that  he 
was  elected  by  the  citizens  of  Boston,  to  which  place  he  had  re- 
moved,  as  one  of  their  representatives  to  the  Colonial  Legislature. 
Gov.  Hutchinson,  though  a  native  of  the  province,  was  a  man  of 
great  energy  and  of  insatiable  ambition.  Anxious  to  secure  the 
royal  favor,  upon  which  he  was  dependent  for  his  office,  he  gave 
all  his  influence  in  favor  of  the  demands  of  the  crown.  In  all 
these  measures,  John  Adams  was  recognized  as  one  of  his  most 
formidable  antagonists.  In  1772,  Mr.  Adams,  finding  his  health 
failing  from  his  incessant  application  to  business,  returned  to  his 
more  secluded  home  at  Braintree. 

The  energetic  remonstrances  of  the  colonists  against  taxation 
without  representation,  and  their  determination  not  to  submit  to 
the  wrong,  had  induced  the  repeal  of  the  tax  upon  all  articles 
except  tea.  This  led  to  organizations  all  over  the  land  to  abandon 
the  use  of  tea.  Large  shipments  were  made  to  Boston.  The  con- 
signees endeavored  to  send  it  back.  The  crown-officers  in  the 
custom-house  refused  a  clearance.  On  the  evening  of  the  15th  of 
December,  a  band  of  men,  disguised  as  Indians,  boarded  the  ves- 
sels, hoisted  the  chests  upon  the  deck,  and  emptied  their  contents 
into  the  sea. 

Under  the  circumstances,  this  was  a  deed  of  sublime  daring, 
being  the  first  open  act  of  rebellion.  The  crown,  exasperated, 
punished  Boston  by  sending  armed  ships  to  close  the  port.  This 
was  a  deadly  blow  to  the  heroic  little  town.  The  other  colonies 
sympathized  nobly  with  Massachusetts.  Combinations  were 
formed  to  refuse  all  importations  from  Great  Britain.  A  General 
Congress  was  convened  in  Philadelphia,  1774,  to  make  common 
cause  against  the  powerful  foe.  John  Adams  was  one  of  the  five 
delegates  sent  from  Massachusetts  to  the  Continental  Congress. 
He  was  entreated  by  a  friend,  the  king's  attorney-general,  not 
to  accept  his  appointment  as  a  delegate  to  the  Congress.  "  Great 
Britain,"  said  the  attorney-general,  "  has  determined  on  her  sys- 
tem. Her  power  is  irresistible,  and  will  be  destructive  to  you, 
and  to  all  those  who  shall  persevere  in  opposition  to  her  de- 
signs." 

The  heroic  reply  of  John  Adams  was,  ''  I  know  that  Great  Brit- 
ain has  determined  on  her  system ;  and  that  very  determination 
determines  me  on  miQe.  You  know  that  I  have  been  constant  and 
uniform  in  my  opposition  to  her  measures.     The  die  is  now  cast. 


JOHN  ADAMS.  63 

1  have  passed  the  Rubicon.     Sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or 
perish,  with  my  country,  is  my  fixed,  unalterable  determination." 

Few  comprehended  more  fully  than  Mr.  Adams  the  sublimity 
of  the  crisis  which  was  impending.  He  wrote  at  this  time  in  his 
journal,  — 

"  I  wander  alone,  and  ponder ;  I  muse,  1  mope,  I  ruminate ;  I  am 
often  in  reveries  and  brown  studies.  The  objects  before  me  are 
too  grand  and  multifarious  for  my  comprehension.  We  have  not 
men  fit  for  the  times.  We  are  deficient  in  genius,  in  education, 
in  travel,  in  fortune,  in  every  thing.  I  feel  unutterable  anxiety. 
God  grant  us  wisdom  and  fortitude  !  Should  the  opposition  be 
suppressed,  should  this  country  submit,  what  infamy  and  ruin ! 
God  forbid !    Death,  in  any  form,  is  less  terrible." 

He  was  not  blind  to  the  danger  of  incurring  the  vengeance  of 
the  British  Government.  He  wrote  to  James  Warren,  "  There  is 
one  ugly  reflection.  Brutus  and  Cassius  were  conquered  and 
slain.     Hampden  died  in  the  field  ;  Sidney,  on  the  scafibld." 

Mr.  Adams  was  strongly  attached  to  his  friend  Mr.  Sewall,  who 
remonstrated  with  him  against  his  patriotic  course,  and  who  was 
disposed  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  king.  On  bidding  him  adieu, 
Mr.  Adams  said,  "  I  see  we  must  part ;  and  with  a  bleeding  heart 
I  say,  I  fear  forever :  but  you  may  depend  upon  it,  this  adieu 
is  the  sharpest  thorn  upon  which  I  ever  set  my  foot." 

The  Colonial  Congress  commenced  its  session  at  Philadelphia  the 
5th  of  September,  1774,  when  Mr.  Adams  took  his  seat.  He  was 
speedily  placed  on  several  of  the  most  important  committees. 
The  general  desire  then  was  merely  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 
Very  few  wished  to  break  away  from  the  British  crown.  George 
Washington  was  one  of  the  Virginia  delegation.  He  doubted 
whether  the  British  cabinet,  in  its  arrogance,  would  relinquish  its 
insane  attempt  to  deprive  the  colonists  of  their  liberties ;  but 
Richard  Henry  Lee,  another  of  the  Virginia  delegation,  said  to 
Mr.  Adams, — 

"  We  shall  infallibly  carry  all  our  points.  You  will  be  completely 
relieved.  All  the  offensive  acts  will  be  repealed.  The  army  and 
fleet  will  be  recalled,  and  England  will  give  up  her  foolish  project." 

Much  as  Mr.  Adams  might  have  desired  this  to  be  true,  his 
sagacity  led  him  to  concur  in  the  judgment  of  George  Washington. 
This  Coiigress,  by  its  ability  and  heroism,  rendered  its  memory 
immortal.     Lord  Chatham  said,  — 


64  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"  I  have  studied  and  admired  the  free  States  of  antiquity,  tlie 
master-spirits  of  the  world ;  but  for  solidity  of  reason,  force  of 
sagacity,  and  wisdom  of  conclusion,  no  body  of  men  can  take  the 
precedence  of  this  Continental  Congress." 

At  this  time,  the  idea  of  independence  was  extremely  unpopu- 
lar in  Pennsylvania  and  in  all  the  Middle  States.  Virginia  was  the 
most  populous  State  in  the  Union ;  and  its  representatives,  proud 
of  the  ancient  dominion,  not  without  a  show  of  reason,  deemed  it 
their  right  to  take  the  lead  in  all  important  measures.  A  Virginian 
was  appointed  commander-in-chief  A  Virginian  wrote  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence ;  a  Virginian  moved  its  adoption  by  Con- 
gress.    Mr.  Adams  says  of  the  Massachusetts  delegation, — 

"  We  were  all  suspected  of  having  independence  in  view. 
'Not,'  said  they,  'you  must  not  utter  the  word  "independence," 
nor  give  the  least  hint  or  insinuation  of  the  idea,  either  in  Con- 
gress or  in  private  conversation  :  if  you  do,  we  are  undone.'  " 

It  was  soon  rumored  throughout  Philadelphia  that  John  Adams 
was  for  independence.  The  Quakers  and  the  gentlemen  of  prop- 
erty took  the  alarm.  Adams  "was  sent  to  Coventry,"  and  was 
avoided  like  a  leper.  With  a  saddened  yet  imperial  spirit,  borne 
down,  yet  not  crushed,  by  the  weight  of  his  anxieties  and  unpop- 
ularity, almost  in  solitude,  for  a  time  he  walked  the  streets  of 
Philadelphia.  It  would  have  been  well  for  him  could  he  have 
blended  a  little  more  of  the  suaviter  in  modo  with  the  fortiter  in  re. 

The  British  crown,  with  utter  infatuation,  pursued  its  reckless 
course.  In  April,  1775,  the  war  of  the  Revolution  was  opened,  as 
brave  men  were  shot  down  by  English  soldiery  upon  the  green  at 
Lexington.  Boston  was  placed  under  martial  law.  All  its  citizens 
were  imprisoned  within  the  lines  of  the  British  fleet  and  army 
which  encompassed  the  city.  The  inhabitants  were  plunged  into 
the  deepest  distress.  On  the  10th  day  of  May,  the  Congress  again 
assembled  in  Philadelphia.  Mrs.  Adams  kept  her  husband  minutely 
informed  of  all  the  events  occurring  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity. 
About  the  middle  of  May,  one  sabbath  morning,  Mrs.  Adams  was 
roused  from  sleep  by  the  ringing  of  alarm-bells,  the  firing  of  can- 
non, and  the  beating  of  drums.  She  immediately  sent  a  courier  to 
Boston,  and  found  every  thing  in  great  confusion.  Three  vessels 
of  war  had  left  the  harbor,  manifestly  on  some  hostile  mission,  and 
were  sailing  along  the  shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  approaching 
Braintree  or  Weymouth.     Men,  women,  and  children  were  flying 


JOHN  ADAMS. 


65 


m  all  directions.  The  sick  were  placed  in  beds  on  carts,  and  hur- 
ried to  a  place  of  safety.  The  report  was,  that  three  hundred 
soldiers  had  landed,  and  were  marching  up  into  the  town  of  Brain- 
tree.  Men  seized  their  guns,  and  came  flocking  from  their  farms, 
until  two  thousand  were  collected. 

It  soon  turned  out  that  the  hostile  expedition  had  landed  on 
Grape  Island  to  seize  a  large  quantity  of  hay  which  was  stored  there. 
The  impetuous  colonists  soon  mustered  two  vessels,  jumped  on 
board,  and  put  off  for  the  island.  The  British,  seeing  them  com- 
ing, decamped.  Our  men  landed,  and  set  fire  to  the  hay,  about 
eighty  tons.     Mrs.  Adams,  in  giving  an  account  of  this,  writes,  — 

Our  house  has  been,  upon  this  alarm,  in  the  same  scene  of  con- 
fusion that  it  was  upon  the  former ;  soldiers  coming  in  for  lodging, 
for  breakfast,  for  supper,  for  drink.  Sometimes  refugees  from 
Boston,  tired  and  fatigued,  seek  an  asylum  for  a  day,  a  night,  a 
week.     You  can  hardly  imagine  how  we  live. 


RESIDENCE  OF  JOHN  ADAMS. 


The  battle  of  Bunker's  Hill  was  fought  on  the  17th  of  June, 
1775.  The  next  afternoon,  which  was  Sunday,  Mrs.  Adams  wrote 
to  her  husband,  — 


66  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"  The  day,  perhaps  the  decisive  day,  is  come,  on  which  the  fate 
of  America  depends.  My  bursting  heart  must  find  vent  at  my 
pen.  I  have  just  heard  that  our  dear  friend  Dr.  Warren  is  no 
more,  but  fell  gloriously  fighting  for  his  country  ;  saying,  '  Better 
to  die  honorably  in  the  field  than  ignominiously  hang  upon  the 
gallows.' 

"  Charlestown  is  laid  in  ashes.  The  battle  began  upon  our  in- 
trenchraents  upon  Bunker's  Hill,  Saturday  morning,  about  three 
o'clock,  and  has  not  ceased  yet ;  and  it  is  now  three  o'clock,  sab- 
bath afternoon.  The  constant  roar  of  the  cannon  is  so  distress- 
ing, that  we  cannot  either  eat,  drink,  or  sleep." 

These  scenes  had  aroused  the  country  around  Boston  to  the 
very  highest  pitch  of  excitement.  The  farmers  had  come  rushing 
in  from  all  the  adjoining  towns  with  rifles,  shot-guns,  pitch-forks, 
and  any  other  weapons  of  offence  or  defence  which  they  could 
grasp.  Thus  a  motley  mass  of  heroic  men,  without  efficient  arms, 
supplies,  powder,  or  discipline,  amounting  to  some  fourteen  thou- 
sand, were  surrounding  Boston,  which  was  held  by  about  eight 
thousand  British  regulars,  supported  by  a  powerful  fleet. 

The  first  thing  now  to  be  done  by  Congress  was  to  choose  a 
commander-in-chief  for  this  army.  The  New-England  delegation 
were  almost  unanimous  in  favor  of  Gen.  Ward,  then  at  the  head 
of  the  army  in  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Adams  alone  dissented,  and 
urged  the  appointment  of  George  Washington,  a  delegate  from 
Virginia,  but  little  known  out  of  his  own  State.  Through  the 
powerful  influence  of  John  Adams,  Washington  was  nominated 
and  elected.  He  was  chosen  without  an  opposing  voice.  A  pow- 
erful fleet,  said  to  contain  twenty-eight  thousand  seamen  and  fifty- 
five  thousand  land  troops,  was  now  crossing  the  ocean  for  our 
enslavement.  It  would  seem  impossible,  to  human  vision,  that 
such  a  force  could  then  be  resisted.  Our  destruction  seemed 
sure.  Goliah  was  striding  down  upon  David,  and  all  onlookers 
expected  to  see  the  stripling  tossed  upon  the  giant's  spear  high 
into  the  air. 

Washington  hastened  to  Massachusetts  to  take  command  of  the 
army.  Five  days  after  his  appointment,  Thomas  Jefferson  made 
his  appearance  upon  the  floor  of  Congress.  A  strong  friend- 
ship immediately  sprang  up  between  Adams  and  Jefferson, 
which,  with  a  short  interruption,  continued  for  the  remainder 
of  their  lives.     After  a  brief  adjournment,  Congress  met   again 


JOHN  ADAMS.  67 

in  September.  The  battle  was  still  raging  about  Boston ;  and 
the  British,  with  free  ingress  and  egress  by  their  fleet,  were 
plundering  and  burning,  and  committing  every  kind  of  atrocity  in 
all  directions.  John  Adams  presented  and  carried  the  decisive 
resolution,  that,  in  view  of  the  aggressions  and  demands  of  Eng- 
land, '*  it  is  necessary  that  the  exercise  of  every  kind  of  author- 
ity under  said  crown  should  be  totally  suppressed."  Having  thus 
prepared  the  way,  a  few  weeks  after,  on  the  7th  of  June,  1776, 
Richard  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia  offered  the  memorable  resolution, 
which  John  Adams  seconded,  — 

"  That  these  United  States  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free 
and  independent." 

A  committee  was  then  appointed  to  draught  a  Declaration  of 
Independence.  It  consisted  of  Jefferson,  Adams,  Franklin,  Sher- 
man, and  Livingston.  Jefferson  and  Adams  were  appointed,  by 
the  rest,  a  sub-committee  to  draw  up  the  Declaration.  At  Mr. 
Adams's  earnest  request,  Mr.  Jefferson  prepared  that  immortal 
document,  which  embodies  the  fundamental  principles  of  all 
human  rights.     At  this  time,  Mr.  Adams  wrote  to  a  friend,  — 

"  I  am  engaged  in  constant  business,  —  from  seven  to  ten  in  the 
morning  in  committee,  from  ten  to  five  in, Congress,  and  from  six 
to  ten  again  in  committee.  Our  assembly  is  scarcely  numerous 
enough  for  the  business.  Everybody  is  engaged  all  day  in  Con- 
gress, and  all  the  morning  and  evening  in  committees." 

Jefferson  wrote  of  his  illustrious  colleague,  "  The  great  pillar 
of  support  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  its  ablest  ad- 
vocate and  champion  on  the  floor  of  the  house,  was  John  Adams. 
He  was  our  Colossus.  Not  graceful,  not  always  fluent,  he  yet 
came  out  with  a  power,  both  of  thought  and  expression,  which 
moved  us  from  our  seats." 

Mr.  Jefferson,  though  so  able  with  his  pen,  had  little  skill  in 
debate,  and  was  no  public  speaker.  That  which  he  wrote  in  the 
silence  of  his  closet,  John  Adams  defended  in  the  stormy  hall  of 
Congress.  When  Adams  and  Jefferson  met  to  draw  up  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  each  urged  the  other  to  make  the  draught. 
Mr.  Adams  closed  the  friendly  contention  by  saying, — 

"  I  will  not  do  it :  you  must.  There  are  three  good  reasons 
why  you  should.  First,  you  are  a  Virginian ;  and  Virginia  should 
take  the  lead  in  this  business.  Second,  I  am  obnoxious,  suspected, 
unpopular :  you  are  the  reverse.     Third,  you  can  write  ten  times 


68  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

better  than  I  can."  — "  Well,"  JeflFerson  replied,  "  if  you  insist 
upon  it,  I  will  do  as  well  as  I  can." 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
adopted  by  Congress,  and  signed  by  each  of  its  members.  This 
was  one  of  the  boldest  acts  in  the  records  of  time.  Every  man 
who  affixed  his  signature  to  that  paper  thus  cast  the  glove  of 
mortal  defiance  at  the  foot  of  the  most  majestic  power  on  this 
globe.  The  scene  was  one  upon  which  the  genius  of  both  pen 
and  pencil  has  been  lavished.  In  its  grandeur  it  stands  forth  as 
one  of  the  most  sublime  of  earthly  acts.  Of  the  fifty-five  who 
signed  that  declaration,  there  was  not  probably  one  who  would 
deny  that  its  most  earnest  advocate,  and  its  most  eloquent  de- 
fender, was  John  Adams. 

The  day  after  the  achievement  of  this  momentous  event,  Mr. 
Adams  wrote  to  his  wife  as  follows :  — 

"  Yesterday,  the  greatest  question  was  decided  that  was  ever 
debated  in  America ;  and  greater,  perhaps,  never  was  or  will  be 
decided  among  men.  A  resolution  was  passed,  without  one  dis- 
senting colony,  '  That  these  United  States  are,  and  of  right  ought 
to  be,  free  and  independent  States.'  The  day  is  passed.  The 
4th  of  July,  1776,  will  be  a  memorable  epoch  in  the  history  of 
America.  I  am  apt  to  believe  it  will  be  celebrated  by  succeeding 
generations  as  the  great  anniversary  festival.  It  ought  to  be 
commemorated,  as  the  day  of  deliverance,  by  solemn  acts  of  devo- 
tion to  Almighty  God.  It  ought  to  be  solemnized  with  pomps, 
shows,  games,  sports,  guns,  bells,  bonfires,  and  illuminations,  from 
one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  other,  from  this  time  forward  for- 
ever. You  will  think  me  transported  with  enthusiasm ;  but  I  am 
not.  I  am  well  aware  of  the  toil  and  blood  and  treasure  that  it 
will  cost  to  maintain  this  Declaration,  and  support  and  defend 
these  States ;  yet,  through  all  the  gloom,  I  can  see  that  the  end 
is  worth  more  than  all  the  means,  and  that  posterity  will  triumph, 
though  you  and  I  may  rue,  Avhich  I  hope  we  shall  not." 

A  few  weeks  before  this,  early  in  March,  Washington  had  taken 
possession  of  Dorchester  Heights,  and  had  driven  the  British  out 
of  Boston.  Mrs.  Adams,  in  a  letter  to  her  husband,  under  date  of 
March  4,  writes,  — 

"I  have  just  returned  from  Penn's  Hill,  where  I  have  been  sit- 
ting to  hear  the  amazing  roar  of  cannon,  and  from  whence  I  could 
see  every  shell  that  was  thrown.    The  sound,  I  think,  is  one  of  the 


JOHN  ADAMS.  69 

grandest  in  nature,  and  is  of  the  true  species  of  the  sublime." 
The  next  morning,  she  adds  to  her  letter,  "  I  went  to  bed  about 
twelve,  and  rose  again  a  little  after  one.  I  could  no  more  sleep 
than  if  I  had  been  in  the  engagement :  the  rattling  of  the  win- 
dows, the  jar  of  the  house,  the  continual  roar  of  twenty-four 
pounders,  and  the  bursting  of  shells,  give  us  such  ideas,  and 
realize  a  scene  to  us  of  which  we  could  form  scarcely  any  concep- 
tion. I  hear  we  got  possession  of  Dorchester  Hill  last  night ;  four 
thousand  men  upon  it  to-day :  lost  but  one  man.  The  ships  are  all 
drawn  round  the  town.  To-night  we  shall  realize  a  more  terrible 
scene  still.  I  sometimes  think  I  cannot  stand  it.  I  wish  myself 
with  you  out  of  hearing,  as  I  cannot  assist  them." 

In  August,  a  British  army,  landing  from  their  fleet,  under  Lord 
Howe,  overran  Long  Island,  defeating  the  American  army,  which 
only  escaped  destruction  by  retreating  in  a  dark  and  foggy  night 
to  the  main  land.  Howe  imagined  that  the  discouragement  of  this 
defeat  would  induce  the  Americans  to  listen  to  terms  of  submis- 
sion. He  therefore  requested  an  interview  with  some  of  the  lead- 
ing members  of  Congress.  John  Adams  was  not  in  favor  of  the 
conference.  He  was  well  assured  that  England  would  present  no 
terms  to  which  America  could  accede.  A  committee,  however, 
was  appointed  to  treat  with  the  British  general,  consisting  of 
Adams,  Franklin,  and  Rutledge. 

On  Monday,  Sept.  9,  1776,  the  delegates  set  out  to  meet  Gen. 
Howe  on  Staten  Island.  Franklin  and  Rutledge  took  chairs,  —  a 
vehicle  for  but  one  person.  Mr.  Adams  rode  on  hoiseback.  The 
first  night,  they  lodged  at  an  inn  in  New  Brunswick,  which  was 
so  crowded,  that  Franklin  and  Adams  had  to  take  one  bed  in  a 
chamber  but  little  larger  than  the  bed,  with  no  chimney,  and  but 
one  window.  The  window  was  open ;  and  Mr.  Adams,  who  was 
quite  an  invalid,  wished  to  shut  it.  "  Oh  !  "  said  Franklin,  "  don't 
shut  the  window:  we  shall  be  suffocated."  Mr.  Adams  replied, 
that  he  was  afraid  of  the  evening  air.  Dr.  Franklin  ans^vered, 
"The  air  within  this  chamber  will  soon  be,  and  indeed  is  now, 
worse  than  that  without  doors.  Come,  open  the  window,  and 
come  to  bed,  and  I  will  convince  you."  Mr.  Adams  opened  the 
window,  and  leaped  into  bed.     He  writes,  —  \ 

''  The  doctor  then  began  an  harangue  upon  air  and  cold,  and 
respiration  and  perspiration,  with  which  I  was  so  much  amused, 
that  I  soon  fell  asleep,  and  left  him  and  his  philosophy  together : 


70  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

but  I  believe  that  they  were  equally  sound  and  insensible  within 
a  few  minutes  after  me ;  for  the  last  words  I  heard  were  pro- 
nounced as  if  he  were  more  than  half  asleep.  I  remember  little 
of  the  lecture,  except  that  the  human  body,  by  respiration  and 
perspiration,  destroys  a  gallon  of  air  in  a  minute  ;  that  two  such 
persons  as  were  now  in  that  chamber  would  consume  all  the  air 
in  it  in  an  hour  or  two;  that,  in  breathing  over  and  over  again  the 
matter  thrown  off  by  the  lungs  and  the  skin,  we  should  imbibe 
the  real  cause  of  colds,  not  from  abroad,  but  from  within." 

The  next  morning,  they  proceeded  on  their  journey.  When 
they  came  to  the  water's  edge,  they  met  an  oflScer  whom  Gen. 
Howe  had  sent  as  a  hostage  for  their  safe  return.  Mr.  Adams 
said  to  Mr.  Franklin,  "  that  it  would  be  childish  to  depend  on  such 
a  pledge,  and  that  he  preferred  to  trust  entirely  to  the  honor  of 
Gen.  Howe.  They  therefore  took  the  officer  back  to  Staten 
Island  with  them  in  his  lordship's  barge.  As  they  approached 
the  shore,  Lord  Howe  came  down  upon  the  beach  to  meet  them. 
Seeing  the  oflScer  in  their  company,. he  said, — 

"  Gentlemen,  you  pay  me  a  high  compliment,  and  you  may  de- 
pend upon  it  that  I  will  consider  it  the  most  sacred  of  things." 

They  walked  up  to  the  house  between  a  line  of  guards,  who 
manoeuvred  and  handled  their  muskets  in  the  most  approved 
style  of  military  etiquette.  The  house,  which  was  "  dirty  as  a 
stable,"  was  carpeted  with  a  sprinkling  of  moss  and  green  sprigs, 
so  that  it  looked  picturesquely  beautiful.  After  a  slight,  cold  re- 
past, they  entered  upon  business.  Lord  Howe  remarked  that  his 
powers  enabled  him  to  confer  with  any  private  gentlemen  of  in- 
fluence in  the  colonies,  and  that  he  could  only  confer  with  them  in 
that  character.  John  Adams,  with  his  characteristic  straightfor- 
ward bluntness,  replied, 

"  We  came,  sir,  but  to  listen  to  your  propositions.  You  may 
view  us  in  any  light  you  please,  except  that  of  British  subjects. 
We  shall  consider  ourselves  in  no  other  character  than  that  in 
which  we  were  placed  by  order  of  Congress." 

His  lordship,  who  had  only  permission  to  offer  pardon  to  the 
leaders  of  the  Revolution,  with  a  few  exceptions,  if  the  States 
worfld  return  to  their  allegiance  to  the  king,  anxious  to  conciliate 
the  delegation,  was  profuse  in  expressions  of  gratitude  to  the 
State  of  Massachusetts  for  erecting  in  Westminster  Abbey  a  mon- 
ument to  his  brother  Lord  Howe,  who  was  killed  in  the  French 


JOHN  ADAMS.  71 

war.  He  said  that  his  affection  for  America  was,  on  that  account, 
so  strong,  that  he  felt  for  America  as  for  a  brother ;  and  that,  if 
America  should  fall,  he  should  lament  it  like  the  loss  of  a  brother. 
Dr.  Franklin,  with  an  easy  air,  bowed  and  smiled,  and  replied,  with 
all  that  grace  and  suavity  which  marked  him  as  one  of  the  most 
accomplished  of  diplomatists,  — 

"  My  lord,  we  will  do  our  utmost  endeavors  to  save  your  lord- 
ship that  mortification." 

Mr.  Adams,  in  his  account  of  the  interview,  remarks  that  his 
lordship  appeared  to  feel  this  with  much  sensibility.  But  with 
Mr.  Adams's  remark,  to  which  we  have  referred,  he  was  evidently 
not  a  little  nettled ;  for,  turning  to  Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Rutledge, 
he  said,  with  much  gravity  and  solemnity,  "  Mr.  Adams  is  a 
decided  character." 

This  was  the  darkest  period  of  the  conflict.  Our  affairs  looked 
so  gloomy,  that  even  the  most  sanguine  were  disheartened.  Many 
were  exceedingly  dissatisfied  with  that  prudence  of  Gen.  Wash- 
ington which  alone  saved  us  from  destruction.  Many  were 
anxious  to  displace  him.  It  has  been  said  that  Mr.  Adams  was 
one  of  this  number.     He  denies  it  peremptorily. 

The  advance  of  the  enemy  towards  Philadelphia  had  rendered 
it  necessary  for  Congress  to  adjourn  to  Baltimore.  It  was  in  those 
days  a  long  and  tedious  journey  from  Boston  to  that  "  far-away 
country,"  as  Mrs.  Adams  called  it.  Mr.  Adams,  in  his  journal, 
gives  an  account  of  a  horseback-ride  which  he  took  in  January, 
1777,  from  Boston,  to  attend  a  session  of  Congress  in  that  distant 
city. 

He  rode  across  the  State  of  Connecticut  to  Fishkill,  on  the  Hud- 
son, and  ascended  the  banks  of  the  river  to  Poughkeepsie,  where 
he  was  able  to  cross  upon  the  ice.  He  then  rode  down  the  west- 
ern banks  to  New  Windsor,  five  miles  below  Newburg.  Then  he 
struck  across  the  country  to  Easton  in  Pennsylvania.  He  passed 
through  Sussex  County  in  New  Jersey,  the  stronghold  of  the 
Tories,  but  encountered  no  insult,  as  the  firm  attitude  of  the 
patriots  overawed  them.  It  took  him  three  weeks  of  excessive 
fatigue  to  accomplish  this  journey.  One  can  now  go  to  California 
in  about  the  same  time,  and  with  far  less  discomfort.  Alluding  to 
the  weary  ride,  he  writes,  "  The  weather  has  been  sometimes  bit- 
terly  cold,   sometimes   warm,   sometimes   rainy,   and   sometimes 


72  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

snowy,  and  the  roads  abominably  hard  and  rough ;  so  that  this 
journey  has  been  the  most  tedious  I  ever  attempted." 

The  number  of  members  assembled  in  Congress  had  become 
quite  small,  often  falling  as  low  as  twenty-three.  The  labors  of 
these  men  have  never  been  properly  appreciated.  Their  peril 
was  about  as  great  as  that  of  those  who  met  the  foe  in  the  field, 
and  their  toils  scarcely  less  severe.  The  imperfections  of  the 
Old  Confederation  were  very  palpable  to  the  sagacious  mind  of 
John  Adams.  Mr.  Marchant,  one  of  the  delegates,  relates  the  fol- 
lowing characteristic  anecdote :  — 

"  The  articles  of  confederation  being  completed,  the  members, 
by  rotation,  Avere  called  upon  to  place  their  signatures  to  them. 
This  being  concluded,  a  pause  and  perfect  calm  succeeded.  Mr. 
Adams  sat  and  appeared  full  of  thought.  He  rose :  '  Mr.  Presi- 
dent.' His  cane  slipped  through  his  thumb  and  forefinger,  with  a 
quick  tap  upon  the  floor ;  his  eyes  rolled  upwards  ;  his  brows  were 
raised  to  their  full  arch.  '  This  business,  sir,  that  has  taken  up  so 
much  of  our  time,  seems  to  be  finished :  but,  sir,  I  now,  upon  this 
floor,  venture  to  predict,  that,  before  ten  years,  the  Confederation, 
like  a  rope  of  sand,  will  be  found  inadequate  to  the  purpose,  and 
its  dissolution  will  take  place.  Heaven  grant  that  wisdom  and 
experience  may  avert  what  we  then  have  most  to  fear  ! '  " 

The  Confederacy  proved,  as  Mr.  Adams  predicted,  a  failure.  It 
was  a  mere  league  of  States,  each  reserving  all  efi"ective  powers 
to  itself,  and  conferring  upon  Congress  but  the  shadow  of  sov- 
ereignty. 

Dr.  Gordon  gives  the  following  testimony  to  Mr.  Adams's  influ- 
ence :  "  I  never  can  think  we  shall  finally  fail  of  success  while 
Heaven  continues  to  the  Congress  the  life  and  abilities  of  Mr.  John 
Adams.  He  is  equal  to  the  controversy  in  all  its  stages.  He 
stood  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  whole  Congress  when  reconcilia- 
tion was  the  wish  of  all  America.  He  was  equally  conspicuous  in 
cutting  the  knot  which  tied  us  to  Great  Britain.  In  a  word,  I 
deliver  to  you  the  opinion  of  every  man  in  the  house  when  I  add, 
that  he  possesses  the  clearest  head  and  firmest  heart  of  any  man 
in  Congress." 

The  energy  with  which  he  was  inspired  and  the  confidence  re- 
posed in  him  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  he  was  a  member 
of  ninety  committees,  and  chairman  of  twenty-five.  Until  Novem- 
ber, 1777,  Mr.  Adams  was  assiduous  in  his  attendance  upon  Con- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  73 

gress,   devoting  himself  with   tireless    diligence   to    his   public 
duties. 

In  November,  1777,  Mr.  Adams  was  appointed  a  delegate  to 
France,  to  take  the  place  of  Silas  Deane,  who  had  been  recalled, 
and  to  co-operate  with  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Arthur  Lee,  who 
were  then  in  Paris,  in  the  endeavor  to  obtain  assistance  in  arms 
and  money  from  the  French  Government.  This  was  a  severe  trial 
to  his  patriotism,  as  it  separated  him  from  his  home,  compelled 
him  to  cross  the  ocean  in  winter,  and  exposed  him  to  imminent 
peril  of  capture  by  the  British  cruisers.  Anxiously  he  pondered 
the  question.  He  was  a  man  of  ardent  affections ;  and  it  was  hard 
to  be  separated  from  his  family,  consisting  of  a  wife  and  four  chil- 
dren. The  news  of  his  appointment  was  known  by  the  British, 
and  they  had  a  large  fleet  in  Newport,  R.  I.,  which  would  undoubt- 
edly be  employed  to  intercept  him.  Capture  would  lodge  him  in 
Newgate.  He  would  be  tried  in  England  for  treason,  and  Mr. 
Adams  had  no  doubt  that  they  would  proceed  to  execute  him. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  our  country  was  in  extremest  peril.  It 
was  clear,  that,  without  the  aid  of  some  friendly  European  power, 
our  feeble  armies  must  be  crushed.  France  was  the  only  nation 
from  which  there  was  the  slightest  hope  that  aid  could  be  obtained. 
Mr.  Adams  had  done  perhaps  more  than  any  other  man  to  induce 
the  colonies  to  declare  their  independence.  As  was  to  be  ex- 
pected of  the  man,  he  adopted  the  heroic  resolve  to  run  all  the 
risks. 

"  My  wife,"  he  writes,  "  who  had  always  encouraged  and  ani- 
mated me  in  all  the  antecedent  dangers  and  perplexities,  did  not  fail 
me  on  this  occasion.  After  much  agitation  of  mind,  and  a  thousand 
reverses  unnecessary  to  be  detailed,  I  resolved  to  devote  my 
family  and  my  life  to  the  cause,  accepted  the  appointment,  and 
made  preparation  for  the  voyage." 

It  was  several  months  before  a  frigate  could  be  got  ready.  On 
a  cold  day  in  February,  1778,  a  wintry  wind  roughening  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  Mr.  Adams  took  a  sad  leave  of  his  wife  and  three 
children,  and  accompanied  by  his  son  John  Quincy,  then  a  lad  of 
but  ten  years  of  age,  was  rowed  out  to  the  frigate  "  Boston,"  rid- 
ing at  anchor  at  some  distance  from  the  shore.  The  voyage  was 
stormy,  uncomfortable,  and  eventful.  When  five  days  out,  on  the 
15tli  of  February,  three  large  English  frigates  were  seen,  probably 
cruising  for  the  "  Boston."    They  gave  chase.    Two  of  them  were 

10 


74  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

soon  run  out  of  sight.  The  third,  a  better  sailer,  continued  the 
pursuit.  Arrangements  were  made  for  a  desperate  fight.  Mr. 
Adams  urged  them  to  contend  to  the  last  extremity. 

"  My  motives,"  he  writes,  "  were  more  urgent  than  theirs ;  for 
it  will  be  easily  believed  that  it  would  have  been  more  eligible  for 
me  to  be  killed  on  board  the  '  Boston,'  or  sunk  to  the  bottom  in 
her,  than  to  be  taken  prisoner." 

Mr.  Adams  sa-t  at  the  cabin-windows,  watching  the  frowning 
enemy  gaining  very  rapidly  upon  them,  when  suddenly  the  black 
clouds  of  a  rising  tempest  gathered  in  the  skies.  The  wind  rose 
to  a  gale.  The  clouds  hastened  the  approach  of  the  darkness  of 
the  night,  in  which  the  ships  lost  sight  of  each  other;  and,  when 
the  morning  dawned,  the  British  frigate  was  nowhere  to  be  seen, 
while  the  ocean  was  tossed  by  a  hurricane. 

On  the  14th  of  March,  another  sail  hove  in  sight.  Trusting  that 
it  might  prove  a  prize  which  they  would  be  able  to  take,  they 
gave  chase;  and  it  was  soon  overtaken  and  captured.  Mr.  Sprague, 
in  his  Eulogy  of  Adams  and  Jefferson,  relates  the  following  anec- 
dote of  this  engagement.  Capt.  Tucker  begged  Mr.  Adams  to 
retire  to  a  place  of  safety  below.  Soon  after,  as  the  balls  of  the 
hostile  ship  were  flying  over  their  heads,  Capt.  Tucker  saw  Mr. 
Adams  on  deck  with  a  musket  in  his  hand,  fighting  as  a  common 
marine.  In  the  excitement  of  the  moment,  he  rushed  up  to  his 
illustrious  passenger,  exclaiming,  "  Why  are  you  here,  sir  ?  I  am 
commanded  to  carry  you  safely  to  Europe,  and  I  will  do  it ;  "  and, 
seizing  him  in  his  arms,  he  forcibly  carried  him  from  the  scene  of 
danger. 

They  took  the  prize,  and  a  prize  indeed  it  was.  It  proved  to  be 
a  letter  of  marque,  the  "  Martha,"  Capt.  Mcintosh,  of  fourteen  guns, 
with  a  cargo  insured  in  London  for  seventy-two  thousand  pounds. 
The  captured  vessel  was  sent  to  Boston.  Capt.  Mcintosh,  who  was 
kept  on  board  the  "  Boston,"  was  a  very  intelligent,  gentlemanly 
man,  and  held  much  friendly  conversation  with  Mr.  Adams.  On 
the  evening  of  the  loth  of  March,  as  they  were  approaching  the 
French  coast,  Mr.  Adams  was  sitting  in  the  cabin,  when  Capt. 
Mcintosh  came  down,  and,  addressing  him  with  great  solemnity, 
Baid, — 

"  Mr.  Adams,  this  ship  will  be  captured  by  my  countrymen  in 
less  than  half  an  hour.  Two  large  British  men-of-war  are  bearing 
directly  down  upon  us,  and  are  just  by.    You  will  hear  from  them,  I 


JOHN  ADAMS.  75 

warrant  you,  in  six  minutes.  Let  me  take  the  liberty  to  say  to  you, 
that  I  feel  for  you  more  than  for  any  one  else.  I  have  always  liked 
you  since  I  came  on  board,  and  have  always  ascribed  to  you  the 
good  treatment  which  I  have  received.  You  may  depend  upon 
it,  all  the  good  service  I  can  render  you  with  my  countrymen 
shall  be  done  Avith  pleasure." 

This  was,  indeed,  startling  intelligence.  Mr.  Adams,  who  had 
heard  an  uncommon  trampling  upon  deck,  only  responded  with  a 
silent  bow,  and,  taking  his  hat,  ascended  the  cabin-stairs.  It  was 
a  bright  moonlight  evening,  and  there  were  the  two  ships  already 
within  musket-shot.  They  could  see  every  thing, — ^"even  the  men 
on  board.  All  expected  every  moment  to  be  hailed,  or  perhaps  to 
be  saluted  with  a  broadside.  But  the  two  ships  passed  without 
speaking  a  word.  "  I  stood  upon  deck,"  writes  Mr.  Adams,  "  till 
they  had  got  so  far  off  as  to  remove  all  apprehension  of  danger 
from  them.  Whether  they  were  two  American  frigates,  which 
had  been  about  that  time  in  Prance,  we  never  knew.  We  had  no 
inclination  to  inquire  about  their  business  or  destination,  and  were 
very  hanpy  that  they  discovered  so  little  curiosity  about  ours." 

On  the  morning  of  March  30,  they  made  Bordeaux  Lighthouse, 
and  ran  safely  into  the  river.  Mr.  Adams  was  channed  with  the 
appearance  of  La  Belle  Prance.  The  sight  of  land,  cattle,  villages, 
farm-houses,  women  and  children,  after  so  long  and  dreary  a  voy- 
age, gave  indescribable  pleasure.  There  was  a  Prench  ship  in 
the  stream;  and  Mr.  Adams  and  his  son  were  invite ;i  to  a  very 
elegant  entertainment,  served  up  in  style,  to  which  they  had  been 
quite  unaccustomed  in  their  frugal  provincial  home.  They  there 
learned  that  Dr.  Pranklin,  who  had  been  received  by  Louis  XVI. 
with  great  pomp,  and  who,  from  his  courtesy  of  manners,  afiability, 
and  aptness  in  paying  compliments,  was  admirably  adapted  to  im- 
press the  Prench  mind,  had  already  succeeded  in  concluding  a 
treaty  with  France. 

Indeed,  it  is  probably  fortunate  that  Mr.  Adams  did  not  arrive 
any  sooner.  He  was  not  at  all  at  home  in  French  diplomacy. 
While  Franklin  was  greatly  admired  and  caressed,  Mr.  Adams  was 
decidedly  unpopular  in  the  Parisian  court.  His  virtues  and  his 
defects  were  those  of  a  blunt,  straightforward,  unpolished  Eng- 
lishman. In  Paris  he  met  with  David  Hartley,  a  member  of  the 
British  House  of  Commons.  They  came  together  like  two  ice- 
bergs.    Mr.  Hartley,  on  his  return  to  London,  said  to  Sir  John 


76  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Temple  and  others,  "  Your  Mr.  Adams,  that  you  represent  as  a 
man  of  such  good  sense,  —  he  may  have  that;  but  he  is  the  most 
ungracious  man  I  ever  saw," 

Mr.  Adams's  first  interview  with  the  President  of  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Bordeaux  was  alike  characteristic  of  the  afiable  French- 
man and  the  bluflf  Yankee.  The  premier  received  him  not  only 
respectfully  and  politely,  but  with  affection  which  was  even 
tender. 

"  T  am  charmed,"  said  he,  "  to  see  you.  I  have  long  felt  for 
you  a  brother's  love.  I  have  trembled  for  you  in  the  great  perils 
through  which  you  have  passed.  You  have  encountered  many 
dangers  and  sufferings  in  the  cause  of  liberty ;  and  I  have  sympa- 
thized with  you  in  them  all,  for  I  have  suffered  in  that  cause 
myself." 

All  this  was  in  accordance  with  national  courtesy,  and  was  as 
sincere  as  are  the  usual  salutations  of  social  life.  It  was,  by  no 
means,  hypocrisy :  it  was  only  politeness.  Dr.  Franklin  would 
have  responded  in  a  similar  strain;  and  the  two  friends  would 
have  separated,  charmed  with  each  other.  We  learn  |^ow  Mr. 
Adams  received  these  cordial  advances  by  the  following  ungra- 
cious entry  in  his  journal :  — 

"  Mr.  Bondfield  had  to  interpret  all  this  effusion  of  compliments. 
I  thought  it  never  would  come  to  an  end  ;  but  it  did :  and  I  con- 
cluded, upon  the  whole,  there  was  a  form  of  sincerity  in  it,  deco- 
rated, and  almost  suffocated,  with  French  compliments." 

Mr.  Adams,  and  his  little  son  John  Quincy,  reached  Paris  on  the 
8th  of  April,  after  land-travel  of  five  hundred  miles.  As  the  am- 
bassador of  the  infant  colonies,  struggling  for  independence,  Mr. 
Adams  was  received  by  both  court  and  people  with  the  utmost 
kindness.  In  his  journal  he  records,  '*  The  attention  to  me  which 
has  been  shown,  from  my  first  landing  in  France,  by  the  people  in 
authority,  of  all  ranks  and  by  the  principal  merchants,  and,  since 
my  arrival  in  Paris,  by  the  ministers  of  state,  and  others  of  the 
first  consideration,  has  been  very  remarkable." 

Mr.  Adams  could  not  speak  French,  which  was  almost  a  fatal 
obstacle  to  his  success  as  a  courtier.  He  says  that  Dr.  Franklin 
could  not  speak  it  grammatically  ;  but,  at  all  events,  Dr.  Franklin 
succeeded  in  speaking  it  so  well  as  to  charm  all  with  whom  he 
conversed,  and  his  polite  auditors  averred  that  his  pronunciation 
was  truly  Parisian.     He  was  an  exceedingly  gallant  old  gentle- 


JOHN  ADAMS.  77 

man  of  seventy,  possessed  of  extraordinary  tact  in  paying  com- 
pliments. 

In  a  sketch  of  his  colleagues,  Mr.  Adams  writes  of  Di.  frank- 
lin,— 

"  That  he  was  a  great  genius,  a  great  wit,  a  great  humorist,  a 
great  satirist,  a  great  politician,  is  certain.  That  he  was  a  great 
philosopher,  a  great  moralist,  a  great  statesman,  is  more  question- 
able." On  the  other  hand.  Dr.  Franklin  writes  of  his  colleague, 
"  Mr.  Adams  is  always  an  honest  man,  often  a  wise  one ;  but  he  is 
sometimes  completely  out  of  his  senses." 

Mr.  Adams  was  an  earnest,  methodical,  business  man.  He  was 
disgusted  at  the  loose  way  in  which  he  found  business  conducted 
by  his  colleagues.  There  was  not  a  minute-book,  letter-book,  or 
account-book,  to  be  produced.  He  undertook  a  vigorous  reform, 
bought  some  blank  books,  declined  invitations  to  dine,  and  bowed 
down  to  the  hard  work  of  acquiring  the  French  language.  He 
became  unduly  suspicious  of  the  designs  of  France.  One  day,  he 
was  crossing  the  court  of  the  palace  of  Versailles  with  his  col- 
league, Mr.  Lee,  and  the  Count  de  Vergennes.  They  passed,  and 
exchanged  bows  with,  the  distinguished  general.  Marshal  Maille- 
bois.  "  That  is  a  great  general/'  said  Mr.  Lee.  "  I  wish,"  re- 
sponded the  count,  "  that  he  had  the  command  with  you."  This 
was  a  very  natural  remark,  when  we  had  then  no  generals  of  dis- 
tinction in  our  country,  and  when  even  many  of  our  own  most 
devoted  patriots  were  distrusting  Washington.  Mr.  Adams  thus 
comments  on  these  words  :  — 

"  This  escape  was,  in  my  mind,  a  confirmation  strong  of  the 
design  at  court  of  getting  the  whole  command  of  America  into 
their  own  hands.  My  feelings  on  this  occasion  were  kept  to  my- 
self; but  my  reflection  was,  "  1  will  be  buried  in  the  ocean,  or  in 
any  other  manner  sacrificed,  before  I  will  voluntarily  put  on  the 
chains  of  France,  when  1  am  struggling  to  throw  off  those  of 
Great  Britain." 

Mr.  Adams's  earnest  patriotism  induced  him  to  practise  the 
most  rigid  economy  while  abroad,  that  Congress  might  be  put  to 
as  little  expense  as  possible.  The  treaty  of  alliance  with  France 
was  already  formed  before  his  arrival ;  and,  soon  finding  that  there 
was  but  little  for  him  to  do  in  Paris,  he  resolved  that  he  had 
rather  run  the  gantlet  through  all  the  British  men-of-war,  and  all 
the  storms  of  the  ocean  on  a  return,  than  remain  where  he  was. 


78  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

His  journal  shows  that  he  was  entirely  devoted  to  the  business 
of  his  mission,  —  an  unwearied,  self-sacrificing  patriot.  It  also 
shows  that  he  was  deficient  in  certain  qualities  essential  to  suc- 
cess in  the  court  of  Versailles,  and  that  he  was  daily  becoming 
more  alienated  from  his  colleagues,  and  especially  from  Dr.  Frank- 
lin, the  supremacy  of  whose  influence  could  not  be  concealed. 
Under  these  circumstances,  and  in  consequence  of  representations 
from  both  Franklin  and  Adams,  Congress  decided  to  make  Dr. 
Franklin  sole  minister  at  the  court  of  France.  Mr.  Lee  was 
despatched  to  Madrid ;  but  for  Mr.  Adams  no  provision  was 
made.  This  oversight  was  simply  owing  to  the  harassed  and 
distracted  condition  of  Congress  at  that  time.  Thus  doomed  to 
idleness,  and  uncertain  respecting  duty,  his  situation  was  exceed- 
ingly painful.  ''  I  cannot,"  he  wrote,  ^^  eat  pensions  and  sinecures  : 
they  would  stick  in  my  throat." 

On  the  17th  of  June,  1779,  he  embarked  on  board  the  French 
frigate  "  Sensible ; "  and  arrived  safely  in  Boston  with  his  son  on 
the  2d  of  August,  after  an  absence  of  seventeen  months. 

For  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Adams,  in  such  stirring  times,  there  was 
no  such  thing  as  rest.  Immediately  upon  his  arrival  at  Braintree, 
he  was  chosen  to  represent  the  town  in  the  state  convention  then 
held  at  Cambridge.  At  the  same  time,  he  prepared  an  elaborate 
review  of  the  state  of  the  different  nations  in  Europe,  so  far  as  it 
might  have  a  bearing  on  the  interests  of  the  United  States.  The 
controversies  between  the  individual  members  of  the  foreign  dele- 
gation had  agitated  Congress  and  the  country.  There  were  many 
who  were  in  favor  of  recalling  Dr.  Franklin ;  but  his  popularity 
with  the  French  court,  and  especially  with  the  minister.  Count  de 
Vergennes,  defeated  this  measure.  There  was  a  long  and  bitter 
conflict  in  Congress  respecting  the  appointment  of  commissioners 
to  the  foreign  courts. 

In  September,  1779,  Mr.  Adams  was  chosen  again  to  go  to  Paris, 
there  to  hold  himself  in  readiness  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace 
and  of  commerce  with  Great  Britain  so  soon  as  the  British  cabi- 
net might  be  found  willing  to  listen  to  such  proposals.  The 
Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne,  the  French  minister,  who  had  accom- 
panied Mr.  Adams  to  America,  wrote  him  a  very  polite  note,  con- 
gratulating him  upon  his  appointment,  and  ofi"ering  him  a  passage 
in  the  return  French  frigate.  M.  Marbois  had  been  so  much  im- 
pressed with  the  distinguished  talents  of  Mr.  Adams's  son,  John 


JOHN  ADAMS.  79 

Quincy,  that  he  sent  his  father  a  special  injunction  to  carry  him 
back,  that  he  might  profit  by  the  advantages  of  a  European  edu- 
cation. 

On  the  13th  of  November,  1779,  Mr.  Adams  was  again  on  board 
the  "  Sensible,"  outward  bound.  The  voyage  was  dismal;  and  the 
ship  having  sprung  a  leak,  and  being  in  danger  of  foundering, 
they  were  compelled  to  make  the  first  European  port,  which  was 
that  of  Ferrol,  in  Spain.  In  midwinter,  Mr.  Adams  crossed  the 
Pyrenees,  and  reached  Paris  on  the  5th  of  February,  1780.  He 
was  to  remain  in  the  French  capital  until  an  opportunity  should 
present  itself  to  open  negotiations  with  Great  Britain.  The 
Count  de  Vergennes  assumed,  and  very  properly,  that  France, 
our  powerful  ally,  should  be  specially  consulted  upon  any  terms 
which  were  to  be  presented  to  the  British  cabinet ;  and  that  it 
would  be  manifestly  unjust,  under  the  circumstances,  for  the  Unit- 
ed States  to  negotiate  a  separate  peace  with  Great  Britain,  with- 
out the  approval  of  the  French  nation.  On  the  other  hand,  Mr. 
Adams  very  properly  assumed  that  the  United  States  had  not 
placed  their  destinies  in  the  hands  of  France,  so  as  to  lose  all 
their  independent  power,  and  to  be  bound,  like  a  slave,  to  obey 
the  behests  of  a  master.  Here  came  the  split,  distrust,  aliena- 
tion, mutual  repugnance. 

There  were  two  motives  which  influenced  France  to  enter  into 
the  American  alliance.  One  was  a  strong  popular  sympathy  in 
our  cause,  as  patriots  struggling  for  liberty :  the  other  was  a  na- 
tional dislike  to  England,  and  a  desire  to  humble  that  uncompro- 
mising power,  and  so  to  secure  the  friendship  of  America  as  to 
obtain  a  favorable  commercial  treaty.  Mr.  Adams  acted  upon  the 
principle  that  sympathy  with  Americans,  as  victims  of  oppression, 
had  no  influence  whatever  with  France ;  that  the  French  Govern- 
ment, in  its  alliance,  was  influenced  by  pure  and  undiluted  selfish- 
ness. Dr.  Franklin  did  not  sympathize  in  these  views,  and  did 
not  give  Mr.  Adams  his  moral  support.  Much  annoyed,  Mr. 
Adams  at  length  decided  to  go  to  Holland.  In  taking  his  depart- 
ure, he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Count  de  Vergennes,  which  did  but 
increase  the  alienation.  The  count  was  so  indignant,  that  he  sent 
to  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  soliciting  the  recall  of  the  com- 
missions which  had  been  intrusted  to  Mr.  Adams. 

In  Holland  he  was  eminently  useful;  negotiating  important 
loans,  and  forming  important  commercial  treaties.     In  his  bold 


so  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

measures  here,  he  assumed  much  responsibihty,  for  which  he  was 
commended  by  Congress.  In  this  brief  sketch,  it  is  impossible  to 
do  full  justice  to  these  complicated  negotiations.  The  Count  de 
Vergenues  apprehended  Mr.  Adams  might  propose  terms  to  Great 
Britain  unfavorable  to  the  interests  of  France.  Mr.  Adams  appre- 
hended that  the  count  would  insist  upon  terms  of  peace  so  favora- 
ble to  French  commerce  as  to  cripple  the  commercial  intercourse 
of  the  United  States  with  England  and  the  other  nations  of  Europe. 
'Both  had  reason  for  their  fears. 

Mr.  Adams  ever  regarded,  and  justly,  his  mission  to  Holland  as 
the  greatest  success  of  his  life.  Through  his  very  great  efforts, 
sagaciously  conducted,  he  was  at  length  received  as  the  accred- 
ited minister  of  the  United  States,  and  recognized  as  a  member  of 
the  corps  diplomatique  at  the  Hague.  On  the  very  day  that  he 
was  thus  received  by  the  States-General,  he  proposed  a  treaty  of 
amity  and  commerce  ;  and  on  the  7th  of  October,  1782,  had  the 
pleasure  of  announcing  the  second  alliance  entered  into  by  the 
United  States  as  a  sovereign  power.  The  glory  of  this  great 
event  belongs  undeniably  to  John  Adams.  It  was  deemed  so 
important,  that  two  medals  were  engraved  in  Holland  in  its  com- 
memoration. "  Monsieur,"  said  a  French  gentleman  to  Mr.  Adams 
on  his  return  to  Paris,  "  you  are  the  Washington  of  negotiation." 
Mr.  Adams  was  highly  gratified  by  the  compliments  which  were 
lavished  upon  him ;  but  he  intimates  that  Dr.  Franklin  would  die 
of  jealousy  should  he  hear  them. 

The  alliance  with  Holland  was  a  great  victory;  no  less  impor- 
tant in  its  bearing  upon  the  war  than  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis, 
which  occurred  about  the  same  time.  The  conflict  in  the  cabinet 
was  as  arduous  as  that  in  the  field.  The  British  ministry  now 
began  to  manifest  some  disposition  to  negotiate.  In  October, 
1782,  Mr.  Adams  returned  to  Paris.  Private  emissaries  had  been 
sent  to  the  continent  from  London  to  ascertain  who  the  Americans 
were  who  were  authorized  to  treat,  and  what  was  the  extent  of 
their  powers.  In  anticipation  of  this  event.  Congress  had  ap- 
pointed a  commission,  consisting  of  Adams,  Franklin,  H.  Laurens, 
Jay,  and  Jefferson,  with  full  authority  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of 
peace.  ' 

The  alienation  between  Mr.  Adams  and  the  French  court  was 
well  known ;  and  an  agent  was  sent  by  Lord  North  to  sound  him 
upon  the  possibility  of  a  separate  truce,  abandoning  France.     A 


JOHN  ADAMS.  81 

meaner  act  we  could  not  have  been  guilty  of  than  to  have  acceded 
to  this  proposal.  England,  exasperated  against  the  nation  which 
had  rescued  us  from  her  grasp,  was  anxious,  by  detaching  us  from 
the  conflict,  to  wreak  her  whole  vengeance  upon  our  generoua 
ally.  This  was  just  what  Count  Yergennes  had  apprehended. 
Mr.  Adams  consented  to  meet  this  emissary  at  Amsterdam  on  the 
20th  of  March;  though  he  wisely  attached  the  condition,  that  a  wit- 
ness should  be  present  at  the  interview,  and  that  he  should  be 
permitted  to  communicate  all  that  should  pass  both  to  Dr.  Frank- 
lin and  the  Count  de  Yergennes,  who  were  in  cordial  sympathy 
with'  each  other.  These  conditions  so  embarrassed  Digges,  the 
British  envoy,  that  his  mission  was  an  entire  failure.  France, 
Spain,  and  Holland  were  now  all,  with  more  or  less  of  zeal,  com- 
bined with  the  United  States  against  England.  The  British  cabi- 
net made  a  covert  effort  for  a  separate  pacification  with  France, 
which  was  also  unsuccessful. 

After  a  vast  amount  of  diplomatic  manoeuvring,  a  definite 
treaty  of  peace  with  England  was  signed  at  Paris  on  the  21st  of 
January,  1783.  The  re-action  from  the  excitement,  toil,  and  anx- 
iety through  which  Mr.  Adams  had  passed,  threw  him  into  a  fever. 
He  occupied  the  Hotel  du  Eoi,  in  the  Place  du  Carrousel.  It  was 
a  thoroughfare  over  whose  pavements  a  constant  stream  of  car- 
riages was  rolling,  with  a  noise  like  thunder,  incessantly  for 
twenty-one  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four.  Burning  with  fever, 
he  found  sleep  impossible.  His  friends  despaired  of  his  re- 
covery.   ' 

The  sufferings  of  Mrs.  Adams,  in  this  long  separation  from  her 
husband,  were  very  severe.  A  nobler  woman  never  breathed. 
She  deserves  from  a  nation's  gratitude  a  monument  equally  high 
and  massive  with  that  of  her  illustrious  companion.  When  asked, 
after  Mr.  Adams  had  been  absent  three  years,  "  Had  you  known 
that  Mr.  Adams  would  have  remained  so  long  abroad,  would  you 
have  consented  that  he  should  have  gone  ?  "  she  replied,  after  a 
moment's  hesitation, — 

"  If  I  had  known  that  Mr.  Adams  could  have  effected  what  he 
has  done,  I  would  not  only  have  submitted  to  the  absence  I  have 
endured,  painful  as  it  has  been,  but  I  would  not  have  opposed  it, 
even  though  three  years  more  should  be  added  to  the  number.  I 
feel  a  pleasure  in  being  able  to  sacrifice  my  selfisli  passions  to  the 
general  good,  and  in  imitating  the  example  which  has  taught  me 
11 


«2 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


,to  consider  myself  and  family  but  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance 
when  compared  with  the  great  community." 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Adams  could  be  removed,  he  was  taken  to 
Auteuil,  where  he  enjoyed  the  pure  air  and  silence  of  the  coun- 
try. But  recovery  was  very  slow.  Feeble,  emaciate,  languid, 
liis  friends  advised  him  to  go  to  England  to  drink  the -waters  of  ■ 
Bath.  On  Monday,  the  20th  of  October,  he  set  out,  with  his  son 
and  one  servant,  for  London.  While  Mr,  Adams  was  in  England, 
still  drooping  and  desponding,  he  received  despatches  urging  the 
indispensable  necessity  of  his  repairing  immediately  to  Amster- 
dam to  negotiate  another  loan. 

"  It  was  winter,"  writes  Mr.  Adams.  "  My  health  was  very  deli- 
cate. A  journey  to  Holland,  at  that  season,  would  very  probably 
put  an  end  to  my  labors.  I  scarcely  saw  a  possibility  of  surviving 
it.  Nevertheless,  no  man  knows  what  he  can  bear  till  he  tries.  A 
few  moments'  reflection  determined  me.'' 


JOHN    ADAMS  THE    AMBASSADOK. 


Mr.  Adams  and  his  son  repaired  to  the  coast ;  spent  three  days 
in  a  miserable  inn,  waiting  for  a  wind ;  were  tossed  upon  sickening 


JOHN  ADAMS.  83 

billows  three  days,  beating  against  a  wintry  gale ;  were  driven  to 
the  Island  of  Goeree,  and  landed  on  a  desolate  shore ;  walked  five 
miles  over  ice  and  snow  to  a  wretched  town ;  hired  a  farmer's 
cart,  the  only  vehicle  which  could  be  obtained,  without  cushions 
or  springs ;  rattled  over  the  deep  ruts  of  the  frozen  ground  twelve 
miles,  till  they  reached  a  ferry  to  cross  over  to  the  main  land  ; 
found  all  the  boats  on  the  other  side  ;  waited  at  the  ferry  several 
days  ;  hired,  at  a  great  price,  an  ice-boat  to  take  them  over ;  were 
rowed  in  the  water  till  they  came  to  the  ice  ;  then  the  sailors, 
eight  in  number,  dragged  the  boat  upon  the  ice,  and  pushed  it 
along  while  the  passengers  walked.  When  they  came  to  a  spot 
where  the  ice  was  thin,  and  the  boat  broke  through,  they  all 
jumped  in  again.  Were  all  day,  and  until  late  at  night,  making 
the  passage,  embarking  and  disembarking  many  times.  Wet, 
chilled,  exhausted,  reached  the  shore ;  could  find  no  carriage ; 
hired  a  peasant's  wagon  to  take  them  to  Brielle,  and  there  obtained 
conveyance  through  intense  cold  to  the  Hague,  where  Mr.  Adams 
succeeded  in  raising  another  loan,  and  saved  the  credit  of  his 
country.  There  is  other  heroism  besides  that  which  is  exhibited 
on  the  bloody  field,  and  there  are  other  battles  besides  those  which 
are  fought  with  powder  and  bullets. 

Mr.  Adams  writes  in  his  journal,  "  I  had  ridden  on  horseback 
often  to  Congress,  over  roads  and  across  ferries,  of  which  the  pres- 
ent generation  have  no  idea;  and  once,  in  1777,  in  the  dead  of 
winter,  from  Braintree  to  Baltimore,  five  hundred  miles,  on  a  trot- 
ting horse.  I  had  been  three  days  in  the  Gulf  Stream,  in  1778,  in 
a  furious  hurricane,  and  a  storm  of  thunder  and  lightning,  which 
struck  down  our  men  upon  deck,  and  cracked  our  mainmast ;  when 
the  oldest  ofiicers  and  stoutest  seamen  stood  aghast,  at  their  last 
prayers,  dreading  every  moment  that  a  butt  would  start,  and  all 
perish.  I  had  crossed  the  Atlantic,  in  1779,  in  a  leaky  sliip,  with 
perhaps  four  hundred  men  on  board,  who  were  scarce!}^  able,  with 
two  large  pumps  going  all  the  twenty-four  liours,  to  keep  Avater 
from  filling  the  hold;  in  hourly  danger,  for  twenty  days  together, 
of  foundering  at  sea.  I  had  passed  the  mountains  in  Spain,  in  the 
winter,  among  ice  and  snow,  partly  on  mule-back,  and  partly  on 
foot.  Yet  I  never  sufi"ered  so  much  in  any  of  these  situations  as  in 
that  jaunt  from  Bath  to  Amsterdam,  in  January,  1784.  Nor  did  any 
of  these  adventures  ever  do  such  lasting  injury  to  my  health.  I 
never  got  over  it  till  my  return  home  in  1788." 


84  LIVES  OF  TEE  PRESIDENTS. 

"While  in  England,  Mr.  Adams  had  enjojed  the  intense  gratifica- 
tion of  hearing  George  III.,  from  his  throne,  announce  to  Parlia- 
ment that  he  had  concluded  a  treaty  of  peace,  in  which  he  recog- 
nized the  independence  of  the  United  States.  While  in  Holland, 
Frederick  II.  of  Prussia  made  overtures  to  Mr.  Adams  for  a  treaty 
of  commerce.  At  the  same  time,  Mr.  Adams  received  a  new  com- 
mission, authorizing  him  to  act,  with  Franklin  and  Jefferson,  to 
negotiate  treaties  of  commerce  with  any  of  the  foreign  powers. 
As  it  was  evident  that  his  residence  abroad  was  to  be  extended, 
he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Adams  to  join  him  with  the  residue  of  their 
family.  The  happy  re-union  took  place  in  the  summer  of  1784; 
and  they  selected  for  their  residence  a  quiet  retreat  at  Auteuil, 
near  Paris.  And  now  came  probably  the  happiest  period  of  Mr. 
Adams's  life.  His  wife,  his  eldest  son,  John  Quincy,  then  rising 
into  a  youth  of  great  promise,  and  his  daughter,  whose  beauty 
and  accomplishments  made  her  justly  the  pride  of  both  father  and 
mother,  were  with  him. 

Mrs.  Adams,  in  her  letters,  gives  a  very  graphic  account  of  her 
life  at  Auteuil.  The  village  was  four  miles  from  Paris.  The  house 
was  very  large,  and  coldly  elegant,  with  mirrors  and  waxed  floors, 
but  destitute  of  comfort.  It  was  situated  near  the  celebrated  park 
called  the  Woods  of  Boulogne,  where  Mr.  Adams,  whose  health 
required  that  he  should  take  much  exercise,  walked  several  hours 
every  day.  The  walls  were  lined  with  magnificent  mirrors;  but 
there  was  not  a  carpet  in  the  house,  nor  a  table  better  than  an  oak 
board.  A  servant  polished  the  floors  each  morning  with  a  brush 
buckled  to  one  of  his  feet.  The  expenses  of  housekeeping  were 
found  to  be  enormous.  A  heavy  tax  was  imposed  upon  every 
thing.  All  articles  of  domestic  use  were  about  thirty  per  cent 
higher  than  in  Boston.  It  was  absolutely  necessary  to  keep  a 
coach ;  and  the  coachman  and  horses  cost  fifteen  guineas  a  month. 
The  social  customs  of  the  country  rendered  it  indispensable  that 
they  should  keep  seven  servants.  Their  expenses  were  so  heavy, 
that  it  required  all  Mrs.  Adams's  remarkable  financial  skill  to  save 
them  from  pecuniary  ruin.  The  humble  style  in  which  they  were 
compelled  to  live,  compared  with  the  splendor  in  which  all  the 
other  foreign  ministers  indulged,  must  have  been  no  small  trial. 
Mr.  Jay  was  compelled  to  resign  his  ofBce,  as  he  found  that  he 
could  not  support  himself  upon  his  salary. 

On  the  24:th  of  February,  1785,  peace  with  England  having  been 


JOHN  ADAMS.  85 

proclaimed,  Congress  appointed  Mr.  Adams  envoy  to  the  court  of 
St.  James.  He  crossed  the  Channel  to  assume  these  new  arduous 
and  delicate  responsibilities.  He  was  now  to  meet,  face  to  face, 
the  Kin^  of  England,  who  had  so  long  regarded  him  as  a  traitor, 
and  against  wt^ose  despotic  power  he  had  assisted  the  nation  so 
successfully  to  contend.  Mr.  Adams,  in  his  despatch  to  Mr.  Jay, 
then  secretary  of  foreign  affairs,  has  left  an  interesting  account 
of  his  first  public  reception. 

He  rode  to  court,  by  invitation  of  Lord  Carmarthen,  in  his  coach. 
In  the  ante-chamber  be  found  the  room  full  of  ministers  of  state, 
generals,  bishops,  and  all  sorts  of  courtiers,  each  waiting  his  turn 
for  an  audience.  He  was  soon  conducted  into  the  king's  closet, 
where  he  was  left  alone  with  the  king  and  his  secretary  of  state. 
Mr.  Adams,  according  to  the  court  etiquette,  upon  which  he  had 
carefully  informed  himself,  made  three  low  bows,  —  one  at  the 
door,  another  when  he  made  a  couple  of  steps,  and  the  third  when 
he  stood  before  the  king.  He  then,  in  a  voice  tremulous  with  the 
emotion  which  the  scene  was  calculated  to  inspire,  addressed  his 
Majesty  in  the  following  words :  — 

"  Sire,  the  United  States  of  America  have  appointed  me  their 
minister  plenipotentiary  to  your  Majesty,  and  have  directed  me 
to  deliver  to  your  Majesty  this  letter,  which  contains  the  evidence 
of  it.  It  is  in  obedience  to  their  express  commands  that  I  have 
the  honor  to  assure  your  Majesty  of  their  unanimous  disposition 
and  desire  to  cultivate  the  most  friendly  and  liberal  intercourse 
between  your  Majesty's  subjects  and  their  citizens,  and  of  their 
best  wishes  for  your  Majesty's  health  and  for  that  of  the  royal 
family. 

"  The  appointment  of  a  minister  from  the  United  States  to  your 
Majesty's  court  will  form  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  England  and 
America.  1  think  myself  more  fortunate  than  all  my  fellow- citi- 
zens in  having  the  distinguished  honor  to  be  the  first  to  stand  in 
your  Majesty's  royal  presence  in  a  diplomatic  character ;  and  1 
shall  esteem  myself  the  happiest  of  men  if  I  can  be  instrumental 
in  recommending  my  country  more  and  more  to  your  Majesty's 
royal  benevolence,  and  of  restoring  the  entire  esteem,  confidence, 
and  affection,  or,  in  better  words,  the  old  good  nature  and  the  old 
harmony,  between  people,  who,  though  separated  by  an  ocean  and 
under  different  governments,  have  the  same  language,  a  similar 
religion,  and  kindred  blood.     I  beg  your  Majesty's  permission  to 


86  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

add,  that,  although  I  have  sometimes  before  been  intrusted  by  mj 
country,  it  was  never,  in  my  whole  life,  in  a  manner  so  agreeable 
to  myself." 

The  king  listened  to  this  address  in  evident  emotion.  He  seemed 
not  a  little  agitated ;  for  to  his  proud  spirit  it  was  an  hour  of  deep 
humiliation.  With  a  voice  even  more  tremulous  than  that  with 
which  Mr.  Adams  had  spoken,  he  replied,  — - 

"  Sir,  the  circumstances  of  this  audience  are  so  extraordinary, 
the  language  you  have  now  held  is  so  extremely  proper,  and  the 
feelings  you  have  discovered  so  justly  adapted  to  the  occasion, 
that  I  must  say  that  I  not  only  receive  with  pleasure  the  assur- 
ance of  the  friendly  disposition  of  the  people  of  the  United  States 
but  that  I  am  very  glad  that  the  choice  has  fallen  upon  you  as 
their  minister.  But  I  wish  you,  sir,  to  believe,  and  that  it  may  be 
understood  in  America,  that  I  have  done  nothing  in  the  late  con- 
test but  what  I  thought  myself  indispensably  bound  to  do  by  the 
duty  which  I  owed  to  my  people.  1  will  be  frank  with  you.  I 
was  the  last  to  conform  to  the  separation ;  but  the  separation 
having  been  made,  and  having  become  inevitable,  I  have  always 
said,  as  I  say  now,  that  I  would  be  the  first  to  meet  the  friendship 
of  the  United  States  as  an  independent  power.  The  moment  I 
see  such  sentiments  and  language  as  yours  prevail,  and  a  disposi- 
tion to  give  this  country  the  preference,  that  moment  I  shall  say, 
Let  the  circumstances  of  language,  religion,  and  blood,  have  their 
full  effect." 

This  formality  being  over,  the  king  asked  Mr.  Adams  if  he  came 
last  from  France.  Upon  receiving  an  affirmative  reply,  he  smiled, 
and,  assuming  an  air  of  familiarity,  said,  '^  There  is  an  opinion 
among  some  people  that  you  are  not  the  most  attached,  of  all  your 
countrymen,  to  the  manners  of  France."  This  perhaps  explains 
the  reason  why  the  king  had  said,  "  I  am  glad  that  the  choice  has 
fallen  upon  you,"  and  throws  light  upon  the  suggestion  he  had 
ventured  to  throw  out,  that  we  should  manifest  "  a  disposition  to 
give  this  country  the  preference."  But  for  the  aid  of  our  ally,  we 
should  inevitably  have  been  crushed  by  the  British  armies.  Yet 
Mr.  Adams,  regarding  those  efforts  as  purely  selfish,  was  not  dis- 
posed to  manifest  the  slightest  gratitude.  He  was,  however,  a 
little  embarrassed  by  the  king's  allusion  to  his  want  of  attachment 
to  France,  and  replied,  "  That  opinion,  sir,  is  not  mistaken.  I  must 
avow  to  your  Majesty,  I  have  no  attachment  but  to  my  own 


JOHN  ADAMS.  87 

country."  The  king  instantly  responded,  "  An  honest  man  will 
never  have  any  other." 

Mr.  Adams's  situation  in  London  was  more  painful  even  than  in 
Paris.  He  was  met  there  only  with  haughtiness  and  ill-will.  Every- 
where he  encountered  cold  civility,  supercilious  indifference.  His 
literary  labors  in  London  were  of  much  service  to  his  country,  as  he 
published  "A  Defence  of  the  American  Constitution,"  in  three  vol- 
umes, which  displayed  much  ability,  and  exerted  a  powerful  influ- 
ence. As  Great  Britain  did  not  condescend  to  appoint  a  minister 
to  the  United  States,  and  as  Mr.  Adams  felt  that  he  was  accom- 
plishing but  little,  he  solicited  permission  to  return  to  his  own 
country,  and  reached  his  rural  home  in  Braintree,  from  which  he 
had  so  long  been  absent,  in  June  of  1788. 

When  some  persons  accused  Mr.  Adams  of  being  covertly  in 
favor  of  monarchical  institutions,  Mr.  Jefferson  replied,  "  Gentle- 
men, you  do  not  know  that  man.  There  is  not  upon  this  earth  a 
more  perfectly  honest  man  than  John  Adams.  It  is  not  in  his 
nature  to  meditate  any  thing  which  he  would  not  publish  to  the 
world,  I  know  him  well ;  and  I  repeat,  that  a  more  honest  man 
never  issued  from  the  hands  of  his  Creator." 

Five  years  after  the  accomplishment  of  our  independence,  it 
was  found,  to  the  very  bitter  disappointment  of  many,  that  thera 
was  not  so  much  prosperity,  neither  was  order  so  well  established, 
as  in  colonial  days,  while  matters  were  manifestly  growing  worse. 
There  was  no  common  principle  harmonizing  the  action  of  the 
different  States.  We  were  not  a  nation^  We  had  no  national 
sense  of  honor.  It  was  necessary  to  organize  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment anew.  The  success  of  the  Revolution  had  afforded  the 
United  States,  as  Washington  said,  "  the  opportunity  of  becoming 
a  respectable  nation." 

Fifty-five  delegates  were  appointed  by  the  various  States  of  the 
Confederacy  to  frame  a  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of 
America.  They  met  in  Independence  Hall,  in  Philadelphia,  where 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  had  been  signed.  The  Constitu- 
tion which  they  drew  up  was  accepted  by  the  States,  and  we  be- 
came a  nation.  George  Washington  was  unanimously  chosen 
President  for  four  years ;  and  John  Adams,  rendered  illustrious 
by  his  signal  services  at  home  and  abroad,  was  chosen  Vice-Presi- 
dent. 

The  first  Congress  under  the  Constitution  met  in  New  York 


88  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

on  the  4th  of  March,  1789.  The  City  Hall,  which  stood  at  the 
corner  of  Wall  and  Nassau  Streets,  where  the  Custom  House  now 
stands,  had  been  remodelled  for  their  accommodation,  and  had 
received  the  name  of  Federal  Hall.  The  first  business,  after  the 
organization  of  the  two  houses,  was  to  count  the  votes  for  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President.  Mr.  Adams  was  the  first  to  receive  the 
official  information  of  his  election.  At  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  the  12th  of  April,  he  left  his  residence  in  Braintree,  and  was 
escorted  by  a  troop  of  horse  to  Boston.  He  was  received  with 
the  ringing  of  bells,  the  firing  of  cannon,  and  the  shouts  of  an  im- 
mense concourse  of  people.  His  journey  to  New  York  was  a 
continued  ovation.  At  Hartford  the  manufacturers  presented  him 
with  a  piece  of  broadcloth  for  a  suit  of  clothes,  and  the  corpora- 
tion of  New  Haven  presented  him  with  the  freedom  of  the  city. 
The  West-Chester  Light  Horse  escorted  him  from  the  Connecticut 
line  to  King's  Bridge,  where  he  was  met  by  a  cavalcade  of  the 
heads  of  departments,  a  large  number  of  members  of  Congress, 
military  officers  and  private  citizens,  in  carriages  and  on  horse- 
back, who  conducted  him  through  the  swarming  streets  to  the 
house  of  John  Jay,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city.  The  President's 
mansion  was  the  house  since  known  as  Bunker's  Hotel,  near  the 
Bowling  Green.  Mr.  Adams  occupied  a  very  beautiful  residence 
at  Richmond  Hill. 

The  question  at  this  time  was  very  warmly  agitated  in  Congress 
and  throughout  the  country  respecting  the  permanent  location  of 
the  seat  of  government.  In  1783,  the  Old  Continental  Congress 
adjourned  from  Philadelphia  to  Princeton,  where  it  occupied  for  a 
time  the  halls  of  college.  Thence  it  adjourned  to  New  York, 
where  it  assembled  in  the  spring  of  1785.  The  question  of  the 
seat  of'  government  was  brought  before  the  Convention  for  form- 
ing the  Constitution,  which  was  assembled  in  Philadelphia.  The 
Eastern  States  were  in  favor  of  New  York.  Pennsylvania  pleaded 
for  the  banks  of  the  Delaware.  The  more  Southern  States  advo- 
cated the  banks  of  the  Potomac. 

It  was  urged  in  favor  of  New  York,  that  "  honesty  was  in 
fashion  "  there,  and  that  there  was  no  city  in  the  world  so  cele- 
brated "  for  the  orderly  and  decent  behavior  of  its  inhabitants." 
On  the  other  hand.  Dr.  Rush  wrote,  ''I  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of 
Congress  leaving  New  York.  It  is  a  sink  of  political  vice.  Do 
as  you  please,  but  tear  Congress  away  from  New  York  in  any 


JOHN  ADAMS.  89 

way."  The  South-Carolinians  objected  to  Philadelphia  on  account 
of  the  Quakers,  who,  they  said,  "  were  eternally  dogging  Southern 
members  about  with  their  schemes  of  emancipation."  This  ques- 
tion, which  was  connected  with  another  respecting  the  assumption 
of  State  debts,  threatened  to  "  dissolve  the  Union."  One  morning, 
Jefferson  met  Hamilton  on  Broadway;  and  for  an  hour  they  walked 
up  and  down  the  crowded  pavement,  discussing  the  agitating 
theme.  In  conclusion,  Jefferson  proposed  that  Hamilton  should 
dine  with  him  the  next  evening,  promising  to  invite  a  few  other 
influential  friends  to  talk  the  matter  over.  "  It  is  impossible," 
said  Jefferson,  "  that  reasonable  men,  consulting  together  coolly, 
can  fail,  by  some  mutual  sacrifices  of  opinion,  to  form  a  compro- 
mise which  is  to  save  the  Union." 

By  uniting  the  two  questions  of  the  location  of  the  Capitol  and 
the  assumption  of  the  State  debts,  a  compromise  was  eirected.  It 
was  agreed  that  the  government  should  be  permanently  estab- 
lished on  the  Potomac,  at  a  place  called  Conogocheague,  now  the 
District  of  Columbia;  that  ten  years  should  be  allowed  for  the  erec- 
tion of  the  necessary  buildings  for  the  accommodation  of  the  gov- 
ernment ;  and  that,  in  the  mean  time,  Philadelphia  should  be  the 
metropolitan  city.  The  people  of  New  York  were  greatly  vexed. 
Robert  Morris,  senator  from  Pennsylvania,  was  quite  influential  in 
accomplishing  this  result.  He  concluded,  that,  if  the  public  offices 
were  once  opened  in  Philadelphia,  they  would  continue  there,  and 
that  Conogocheague  would  be  forgotten.  But  for  the  influence 
of  Washington,  it  is  not  improbable  that  this  might  have  been  the 
case. 

The  irritation  of  New  York  received  graphic  expression  in  a 
caricature  which  was  posted  throughout  the  city.  It  represented 
Robert  Morris  marching  off  with  Federal  Hall  upon  his  shoulders. 
Its  windows  were  crowded  with  members  of  both  houses  eagerly 
looking  out,  some  encouraging,  others  anathematizing,  the  stout 
Pennsylvania  senator  as  he  bore  away  the  prize.  The  Devil 
stood  grinning  upon  the  roof  of  Paulus  Hook  Ferry-house,  beckon- 
ing in  a  patronizing  way  to  Mr.  Morris,  and  saying,  "  This  way, 
Bobby ;  this  way." 

Mrs.  Adams  superintended  the  removal  of  their  effects  to  Phila- 
delphia. She  thus  describes  her  new  residence  at  Bush  Hill: 
"  Though  there  remains  neither  bush  nor  shrub  upon  it,  and  very 
few  trees  except  the  pine  grove  behind  it,  yet  Bush  HiU  is  a 

12 


90  •  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

very  beautiful  place ;  but  the  grand  and  the  sublime  I  left  at 
Richmond  Hill." 

For  a  long  time,  Congress  was  not  at  all  pleased  with  the  change, 
and  bitter  were  the  complaints  which  were  unceasingly  uttered. 
But  at  length  the  murmurs  subsided,  and  were  lost  in  the  excite- 
ment of  politics  and  the  gayeties  of  the  republican  court.  The 
winter  presented  a  continual  succession  of  balls,  dinner-parties, 
and  similar  festivities.  "  I  should  spend  a  very  dissipated  winter," 
Mrs.  Adams  writes,  ''  if  I  were  to  accept  one-half  the  invitations  I 
receive,  particularly  to  the  routs,  or  tea  and  cards."  In  the  midst 
of  this  external  gayety.  Congress  was  tossed  by  angry  passions 
and  stormy  debates.  Both  Washington  and  Adams  were  assailed 
with  intensest  bitterness.  Both  were  accused  of  monarchical  ten- 
dencies, and  of  fondness  for  the  pomp  and  pageantry  of  royalty. 
The  Den^.ocratic  party  was  now  rapidly  rising  into  controlling 
power.  Still  both  "Washington  and  Adams  were  re-elected,  and 
again  on  the  4th  of  March,  1793,  took  the  oaths  of  office. 

There  was  certainly  then  a  degree  of  ceremony  observed,  re- 
flecting somewhat  the  pageantry  of  European  courts,  which  has 
not  since  been  continued.  President  Washington  every  fine  day 
walked  out.  Two  aides  always  accompanied  him,  who  were  kept 
at  a  respectful  distance,  never  engaging  in  conversation.  He 
had  three  very  splendid  carriages.  He  drove  to  church  with  two 
horses,  into  the  country  with  four ;  and  six  magnificent  cream- 
colored  chargers  drew  him  to  the  Senate.  His  servants  wore  a 
livery  of  white,  trimmed  with  scarlet  or  orange.  Both  Washing- 
ton and  Adams  were  ''  gentlemen  of  the  old  school,"  reserved  and 
somewhat  stately  in  courtesy.  An  eye-witness  describes  the 
scene  presented  as  Washington  opened  a  session  of  Congress.  An 
immense  crowd  filled  the  street  through  which  he  was  to  pass. 
As  he  left  his  carriage,  he  ascended  the  steps  of  the  edifice,  and 
paused  upon  the  upper  platform.  "  There  he  stood  for  a  moment, 
distinctly  seen  by  everybody.  He  stood  in  all  his  civic  dignity 
and  moral  grandeur,  erect,  serene,  majestic.  His  costume  was  a 
full  suit  of  black  velvet ;  his  hair,  in  itself  blanched  by  time, 
powdered  to  snowy  whiteness,  a  dress  sword  at  his  side,  and  his 
hat  held  in  his  hand.  Thus  he  stood  in  silence ;  and  what  mo- 
ments those  were !  Throughout  the  dense  crowd  profound  still- 
ness reigned.  Not  a  word  was  heard,  not  a  breath.  Palpitations 
took  the  place  of  sounds.     It  was  a  feeling  infinitely  beyond  that 


JOHN  ADAMS.  91 

which  vents  itself  in  shouts.  Every  heart  was  full.  In  vain 
would  any  tongue  have  spoken.  All  were  gazing  in  mute,  unut- 
terable admiration.  Every  eye  was  riveted  on  that  form,  —  the 
greatest,  purest,  most  exalted  of  mortals." 

Just  about  this  time,  that  moral  earthquake,  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, shook  the  continent  of  Europe.  Mr.  Adams  felt  no  sympathy 
with  the  French  people  in  this  struggle ;  for  he  had  no  confidence 
in  their  power  of  self-government,  and  utterly  abhorred  the  athe- 
istic character  of  those  philosophers,  who,  in  his  judgment,  inaugu- 
rated the  movement.     He  wrote  to  Dr.  Price, — 

"  I  know  that  encyclopedists  and  economists,  Diderot  and 
D'Alembert,  Voltaire  and  Rousseau,  have  contributed  to  this  event 
more  than  Sidney,  Locke,  or  Hoadly,  —  perhaps  more  than  the 
American  Revolution  ;  and  I  own  to  you,  I  know  not  what  to 
make  of  a  republic  of  thirty  million  atheists." 

On  the  other  hand,  Jefferson's  sympathies  were  strongly  enlisted 
in  behalf  of  the  French  people,  struggling  to  throw  ofi"  the  yoke 
of  intolerable  despotism.  Hence  originated  the  alienation  between 
these  two  distinguished  men.  Washington  at  first  hailed  the 
French  Revolution  with  hope ;  but,  as  its  disorders  became  more 
developed,  he  leaned  more  strongly  to  the  views  of  Mr.  Adams. 
Two  very  powerful  parties  were  thus  soon  organized.  Adams  was 
at  the  head  of  the  one  whose  sympathies  were  with  England. 
Jefferson  led  the  other  in  sympathy  with  France. 

England  proclaimed  war  against  the  French  republicans;  played 
the  tyrant  over  weaker  nations  upon  the  ocean;  and,  despising  our 
feeble  navy,  insulted  and  harassed  our  commerce.  This  conduct 
swept  increasingly  the  current  of  popular  feeling  towards  Mr. 
Jefferson  and  his  party.  Upon  the  retirement  of  Washington,  at 
the  close  of  his  second  presidential  term,  there  was  a  very  hotly 
contested  election ;  and  Mr.  Adams,  by  a  slender  majority,  was 
chosen  President ;  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  Vice-President. 

Weary  of  the  cares  of  state,  and  longing  to  return  to  his  loved 
home  at  Mount  Vernon,  Washington  gladly  transferred  the  sceptre 
to  the  hands  of  his  successor.  Henry  VII.  said  of  his  son,  who 
was  eager  for  the  crown,  "Alas !  he  little  knows  w^hat  a  heap  of 
cares  and  sorrows  he  snatcheth  at."  John  Adams  found  indeed,  as 
even  Washington  had  found  before  him,  the  crown  of  empire  to  be 
a  crown  of  thorns.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1797,  at  Philadelphia, 
John  Adams  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United  States.    At 


92  LIVES  OF  TEE  PRESIDENTS. 

an  early  hour  in  the  morning,  Chestnut  Street,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Congress  Hall,  was  densely  crowded.  The  hall  itself  was  thronged, 
many  of  the  members  surrendering  their  seats  to  the  ladies.  Mr. 
Jefferson  first  took  the  oath  as  Vice-President.  At  twelve  o'clock, 
Washington  entered  the  hall,  followed  in  a  few  moments  by  Mr. 
Adams.  They  were  both  received  with  enthusiasm.  As  soon  as 
the  oath  had  been  administered,  Mr.  Adams  pronounced  his  inau- 
gural. At  the  close  of  the  ceremony,  Washington  retired,  followed 
by  a  tumultuous  throng,  eager  to  catch  a  last  look  of  the  object  of 
their  veneration.  Mr.  Adams  had  but  just  reached  his  residence 
when  President  Washington  called  upon  him,  and  cordially  congra- 
tulated him  with  wishes  for  his  happy,  successful,  and  honorable 
administration. 

These  were  stormy  days,  and  it  required  great  wisdom  safely 
to  navigate  the  Ship  of  State.  That  Mr.  Adams's  administration 
was  conscientious,  patriotic,  and  able,  will  now  be  universally  con- 
ceded. In  the  then  divided  state  of  the  public  mind,  an  arch- 
angel could  not  have  conciliated  the  hostile  parties.  The  excite- 
ment which  the  French  Revolution  created  in  this  country,  as  the 
community  ranged  themselves  on  the  side  of  England  or  of  France, 
was  intense.  For  four  years,  Mr.  Adams  struggled  through  almost 
a  constant  tempest  of  assaults.  He  was  never  truly  a  popular 
man.  The  party  arrayed  against  him,  with  the  Vice-President  at 
its  head,  was  powerful  in  numbers,  and  still  more  powerful  in 
ability.  He  was  not  a  man  of  conciliatory  manners  or  of  winning 
speech.  After  four  years  of  harassment,  which  must  have  been 
the  four  least  happy  years  of  his  life,  he  was  mortified  by  losing  a 
re-election.  Jefierson  was  chosen  President;  Aaron  Burr,  Vice- 
President  ;  and  John  Adams  was  left  to  return  to  his  farm  at 
Quincy.  His  chagrin  was  great,  so  great  as  to  lead  him  to  the 
lamentable  mistake  of  refusing  to  remain  in  Philadelphia  to  wit- 
ness the  inauguration  of  his  successful  rival. 

There  had  ensued  a  breach  in  the  friendship  of  these  illustrious 
men,  which  was  not  closed  for  thirteen  years.  But  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  historian  to  record  that  there  was  never  a  more  pure  and 
conscientious  administration  in  this  country  than  that  of  John 
Adams.  Posterity  has  given  its  verdict  in  approval  of  nearly  all 
his  measures.  In  almost  every  conflict,  it  is  now  admitted  that  he 
was  in  the  right,  and  his  opponents  in  the  wrong.  Though  the 
treatment  he  had  received  wounded  him  deeply,  and  he  keenly 


JOHN  ADAMS.  93 

felt  the  failure  of  his  re-election,  it  was  not  without  some  emotions 
of  gladness  that  he  laid  aside  the  cares  of  state  to  seek  refuge  in 
the  quiet  retreat  of  his  home  at  Braintree. 

It  was  on  the  4th  of  March,  1801,  that  Mr.  Adams  retired  to 
private  life,  after  uninterrupted  devotion  to  the  public  service  for 
twenty-six  years, —  service  as  arduous,  as  self-sacrificing,  as  de- 
voted, as  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  any  man.  During  these  long  years 
of  anxiety  and  toil,  in  which  he  was  laying,  broad  and  deep,  the 
foundations  of  an  empire  destined  to  be  the  greatest  upon  which 
the  sun  has  ever  shone,  he  had  received  from  his  impoverished 
country  but  a  meagre  support.  The  only  privilege  he  carried 
with  him  into  his  retirement  was  that  of  franking  his  letters,  and 
receiving  them  free  from  postage,  for  the  remainder  of  Ijis  life. 

He  had  barely  sufficient  property  to  give  him  needful  comforts 
during  his  declining  years.  Party  spirit  then  ran  so  high,  that 
obloquy  pursued  him  even  into  his  retreat.  Many  hours  were 
imbittered  by  the  attacks  which  were  made  upon  him.  Clouds 
of  social  grief,  which  at  times  darken  over  every  family,  threw 
their  shades  upon  the  homestead  at  Quincy. 

About  the  time  of  Mr.  Adams's  retirement,  his  eldest  son,  who 
was  married,  and  settled  in  New  York,  suddenly  died,  leaving  as  a 
legacy  to  his  father's  care  a  wife  and  two  infant  children.  He 
then  spoke  of  this  event  as  the  deepest  affliction  of  his  life. 
Almost  forgotten  in  his  secluded  retreat,  he  found  the  transition 
painful  from  his  life  of  excitement,  agitation,  and  the  most  intense 
intellectual  activity,  to  one  of  repose,  amounting  almost  to  stagna- 
tion. He  was  then  sixty-six  years  of  age.  A  quarter  of  a  century 
still  remained  to  him  before  he  died.  He  generally  avoided  all 
public  gatherings,  and  took  but  little  part  in  political  questions, 
devoting  his  time  mainly  to  the  cultivation  of  his  farm.  When 
England,  looking  contemptuously  upon  our  feeble  navy,  persisted 
in  perpetrating  the  outrage  of  searching  American  ships  wherever 
they  might  be  found,  and  dragging  from  them  any  sailors  who 
might  be  designated  by  any  pert  lieutenant  as  British  subjects, 
both  John  Adams  and  his  son  John  Quincy  nobly  supported  the 
policy  of  Mr.  Jefferson  in  resenting  these  outrages.  It  now  seems 
strange  that  a  single  man  could  be  found  in  all  America  willing  to 
submit  to  such  insolence.  But  Mr.  Adams  was  for  this  bitterly 
accused  of  being  recreant  to  his  life-long  principles,  and  of  joining 
the  party  who  were  charged  with  seeking  an  excuse  for  dragging 


94  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

our  country  into  a  war  against  England,  that  we  might  thus  aid 
France. 

On  this  occasion,  John  Adams,  for  the  first  time  since  his  retire 
ment,  broke  silence,  and  drew  up  a  very  able  paper,  exposing  the 
atrocity  of  the  British  pretensions.  It  was  one  of  the  shrewd 
observations  of  Napoleon,  that  it  is  not  safe  to  judge  of  what  a 
nation  will  do  from  what  it  is  for  the  interest  of  that  nation  to  do, 
as  peoples  are  governed  far  more  by  their  passions  than  by  their 
supposed  interests.  England,  actuated  by  haughty  and  imbit- 
tered  feelings,  plunged  into  her  second  war  with  America.  Mr. 
Adams  had  been  associated  with  a  party  hostile  to  France,  and  in 
favor  of  submission  to  the  British  pretensions.  In  advocating  re- 
sistance, he  was  regarded  as  abandoning  his  old  friends,  and  with 
bitter  animosity  was  he  assailed.* 

Years  rolled  on.  The  treaty  of  Ghent  brought  peace  with  Eng- 
land. Jefferson's  two  terms  of  service  expired,  Madison  and 
Monroe  came  and  went;  and  still  the  sage  of  Quincy  remained, 
approaching  his  ninetieth  year.  In  1813,  their  only  daughter,  who 
was  not  very  happily  married,  died,  after  a  long  and  painful  sick- 
ness. In  1818,  when  Mr.  Adams  was  eighty-two  years  of  age,  his 
noble  wife,  who  had  shared  with  him  the  joys  and  griefs  of  more 
than  half  a  century,  died,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four.  The  event 
threw  over  him  a  shade  of  sadness  which  never  disappeared.  A 
gentleman  who  visited  Quincy  a  year  or  two  before  her  death 
gave  a  description  of  the  interview.  Mr.  Adams  was,  in  bodily 
strength,  very  infirm,  tottering  and  shaking  with  age  ;  but 
his  mind  seemed  as  vigorous,  and  his  heart  as  young,  as  ever. 
There  was  a  boy's  joyousness  and  elasticity  in  his  hearty  laugh. 
He'joked,  was  full  of  fun,  and  talked  about  everybody  and  every 
thing  with  the  utmost  freedom  and  abandon.  His  knowledge 
seemed  to  his  visitor  boundless;  for  he  was  equally  at  home  upon 
whatever  subject  might  be  introduced.  Nothing  could  be  more 
entertaining  than  his  conversation,  it  was  so  replete  with  anecdote 
and  lively  sallies  of  wit. 

While  thus  conversing,  Mrs.  Adams  came  in, — a  tall  and  stately 
lady  of  rather  formal  address.  "A  cap  of  exquisite  lace  sur- 
rounded features  still  exhibiting  intellect  and  energy.  Her  dress 
was  snowy  white,  and  there  was  that  immaculate  neatness  in  her 

*  It  is  not  impossible  that  some  of  these  statements  may  be  disputed  ;  but  incontro- 
vertible evidence  will  be  found  to  sustiiin  them  in  the  "  Life  and  Times  of  John  Adams." 


JOHN  ADAMS.  95 

appearance  which  gives  to  age  almost  the  sweetness  of  youth. 
With  less  warmth  of  manner  and  sociableness  than  Mr.  Adams, 
she  was  sufBciently  gracious,  and  her  occasional  remarks  betrayed 
intellectual  vigor  and  strong  sense.  The  guest  went  away,  feel- 
ing that  he  should  never  again  behold  such  living  specimens  of 
the  '  great  old.'  " 

While  his  drooping  frame  and  feeble  step  and  dimmed  eye 
showed  the  ravages  of  years,  his  mind  retained  its  wonted  vigor. 
He  read  until  his  vision  failed,  and  was  then  read  to,  many  hours 
every  day.  He  loved,  in  conversation  with  his  friends,  to  recall 
the  scenes  of  his  younger  years,  and  to  jSght  his  battles  over 
again.  His  son,  John  Quincy,  rose  to  distinction,  and  occupied 
high  posts  of  honor  at  home  and  abroad.  In  1825,  his  parental 
pride  was  gratified,  and  his  parental  heart  gladdened,  in  the  eleva- 
tion of  his  son  to  the  chair  -which  the  father  had  honored  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  When  John  Quincy  Adams  received  a 
note  from  Rufus  King,  informing  him  of  his  election^  he  enclosed 
it  to  his  father,  with  the  following  lines  from  his  own  pen,  under 
date  of  Feb.  29,  1825:  — 

Mjj  dear  and  honored  Father,  —  The  enclosed  note  from  Mr. 
King  will  inform  you  of  the  event  of  this  day;  upon  which  I 
can  only  offer  you  my  congratulations,  and  ask  your  blessing  and 
prayers.  Your  affectionate  and  dutiful  son, 

John  Quincy  Adams. 

John  Adams  was  now  ninety  years  of  age.  His  enfeebled  pow- 
ers indicated  that  his  end  was  drawing  nigh.  The  4th  of  July, 
1826,  came.  The  nation  had  made  arrangements  for  a  more  than 
usually  brilliant  celebration  of  that  anniversary.  Adams  and  Jef- 
ferson still  lived.  It  was  hoped  that  they  might  be  brought  to- 
gether, at  some  favored  spot,  as  the  nation's  guests.  It  would 
indeed  have  been  a  touching  spectacle  to  have  seen  these  venera^ 
ble  men,  after  a  separation  of  twenty-five  years,  again  clasp  each 
other's  hands,  and  exchange  congratulations  in  view  of  the  pros- 
perity and  power  of  the  nation  which  they  had  done  so  much 
to  form. 

But,  as  the  time  drew  near,  it  was  evident  that  neither  of  them 
could  bear  a  journey.  On  Friday  morning,  the  30th  of  June,  a 
gentleman   called  upon  Mr.  Adams  to  obtain  a  toast  to  be  pre- 


96  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

sented  on  the  4th  of  July  at  the  celebration  in  Quincy.  "  I  give 
you,"  said  he,  "  Independence  foreverJ'^ 

He  was  now  rapidly  declining.  On  the  morning  of  the  4th, 
his  physician  judged  that  he  would  scarcely  survive  the  day. 
There  was  the  ringing  of  bells,  the  exultant  music  of  martial 
bands,  the  thunders  of  artillery  from  ships  and  forts,  from  hills  and 
valleys,  echoing  all  over  our  land,  as  rejoicing  millions  welcomed 
the  natal  day  of  the  nation.  Mr.  Adams,  upon  his  dying  couch? 
listened  to  these  sounds  of  joy  with  silent  emotion.  "  Do  you 
know  what  day  it  is?"  some  one  inquired.  "  Oh,  yes ! "  he  replied : 
"  it  is  the  glorious  4th  of  July.  God  bless  it !  God  bless  you 
all !  It  is  a  great  and  glorious  day."  —  '^  Thomas  Jefferson,"  he 
murmured  at  a  later  hour  to  himself,  "  still  survives."  These 
were  his  last  words.  But  he  was  mistaken.  An  hour  or  two 
before,  the  spirit  of  Jefferson  had  taken  its  flight.  The  sands  of 
his  own  long  and  memorable  life  were  now  run  out,  and  gently 
he  passed  away  into  that  sleep  from  which  there  is  no  earthly 
waking. 

Mr.  Adams  was  a  man  of  rather  cold  courtesy  of  manners,  of 
powerful  intellect,  of  incorruptible  integrity.  It  was  one  defect 
in  his  character,  that  he  was  deficient  in  those  genial,  sympathetic, 
brotherly  graces  which  bind  heart  to  heart.  Wherever  he  ap 
peared,  he  commanded  respect :  seldom  did  he  win  love.  His 
neighbors  called  him  the  "  Duke  of  Braintree."  But,  through  all 
time,  he  must  occupy  a  conspicuous  position  in  the  history  of  this 
country.  It  is  not  easy  to  find  any  other  name  to  which  America 
is  more  indebted  for  those  institutions  which  constitute  its  power 
and  its  glory  than  that  of  John  Adams. 


ENGRAVED     EXPRESSLY    FOR    ABBOTTS    LIVES  OF  THE   PRESIDENTS 


CHAPTER    III. 


THOMAS      JEFFERSON. 

Birth  and  Childhood.  —  College  Life.  —  A  Law  Student.  —  Earnest  Scholarship.  —  Marriage. 

—  Estate  at  Mouticello.  —  Interest  in  Public  Affairs. —  Action  in  the  Continental  Con- 
gress.—  Governor  of  Virginia.  —  Death  of  his  Wife.  —  His  Grief.  —  Letters  to  his  Chil- 
dren.—  Minister  to  France.  —  His  Popularity.  —  Political  Views.  —  Scientific  Accuracy. 

—  Interest  in  the  French  Revolution.  — Returns  to  America.  —  The  two  Parties,  Federal 
and  Democratic.  —  Secretary  of  State.  —  Monarchical  Sentiments.  —  Letters.  —  Corre- 
spondence with  .John  Adams.  —  Alexander  Hamilton.  —  Weary  of  Office.  —  Vice-Presi- 
dent. —  President.  —  Inaugural.  —  Stormy  Administration.  —  Life  in  Retirement.  — 
Scenes  at  Monticello.  —  Death. 


The  ancestors  of  Thomas  Jefferson  are  said  to  have  been  of 
Welsh  origin,  emigrating  from  the  vicinity  of  Mount  Sno^vdon. 


MONTICELLO,  —  RESIDENCE   OF   THOMAS   JEFFERSON. 

But   little   is   known  of  them,      Peter  Jefferson,  the  father  of 
Thomas,  was  a  man  of  handsome  property  and  of  considerable 


13 


97 


98  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

culture.  He  married  Jane  Randolph,  a  young  lady  of  nineteen, 
of  opulent  parentage,  born  in  London,  and  accustomed  to  the 
refinements  of  life.  Mr.  Peter  Jefferson,  from  his  worth  of  char- 
acter and  mental  attainments,  acquired  considerable  local  distinc- 
tion, and  was  at  one  time  professor  of  mathematics  in  William 
and  Mary  College. 

Peter,  with  his  young  bride,  took  an  estate  of  fourteen  hundred 
acres  upon  the  slopes  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  in  what  is  now  called 
Albemarle  County,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  town  of 
Charlottesville.  The  plantation  was  called  Shadwell,  from  the 
name  of  the  parish  in  London  where  his  wife  was  born.  His 
home  was  literally  hewn  out  of  the  wilderness.  There  were  but 
few  white  settlers  within  many  miles  of  the  mansion,  which  con- 
sisted of  a  spacious  story  and  a  half  cottage-housfe.  A  wide  hall 
and  four  large  rooms  occupied  the  lower  floor.  Above  these,  there 
were  good  chambers  and  a  spacious  garret.  Two  huge  outside 
chimnej's  contributed  to  the  picturesque  aspect  of  the  mansion.  It 
was  delightfully  situated  upon  a  gentle  swell  of  land  upon  the 
slopes  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  commanded  a  sublime  prospect  of 
far-reaching  mountains  and  forests. 

Here  Thomas  was  born,  the  oldest  child  of  his  parents,  on  the 
2d  of  April,  1743.  When  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age,  his  father 
died,  leaving  a  widow  and  eight  children.  We  know  but  very  lit- 
tle about  these  parents.  Mr.  Jefferson  seldom  alluded  to  them. 
His  most  distinguished  biographer  says,  "  He  was  singularly  shy 
in  speaking  or  writing  of  matters  of  family  history."  It  is  only 
known  of  his  mother,  that  she  was  a  beautiful  and  accomplished 
lady,  an  admirable  housekeeper,  a  good  letter-writer,  with  a  great 
fund  of  humor.  Mr.  Jefferson  used  to  mention  as  his  earliest 
recollection  that  of  being  carried  by  a  slave  on  a  pillow  on  horse- 
back, when  he  was  but  two  years  of  age,  in  one  of  the  journeys 
of  the  family. 

His  father  and  mother  belonged  to  the  Church  of  England. 
Thomas  was  naturally  of  a  serious,  pensive,  reflective  turn  of 
mind.  From  the  time  he  was  five  years  of  age,  he  was  kept  dili- 
gently at  school  under  the  best  teachers.  He  was  a  general 
favorite  with  both  teachers  and  scholars ;  his  singular  amiability 
winning  the  love  of  the  one,  and  his  close  application  to  study 
and  remarkable  proficiency  securing  the  affection  and  esteem 
of  the  other.     It  is  not  usual  for  a  young  man  to  be  fond  both  of 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  99 

mathematics  and  the  classics ;  but  young  Jefferson  was  alike  de- 
voted to  each  of  these  branches  of  learning.  He  has  often  been 
heard  to  say,  that,  if  he  were  left  to  decide  between  the  pleasure 
derived  from  the  classical  education  which  his  father  had  given 
him  and  the  large  estate  which  he  inherited,  he  should  have 
decided  in  favor  of  the  former. 

In  the  year  1760,  he  entered  William  and  Mary  CoJlege.  He 
was  then  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  entered  an  advanced  class. 
Williamsburg  was  then  the  seat  of  the  Colonial  Court,  and  it  was 
the  abode  of  fashion  and  splendor.  Young  Jefferson  lived  in 
college  somewhat  expensively,  keeping  fine  horses,  and  much 
caressed  by  gay  society.  Still  he  was  earnestly  devoted  to  his 
studies,  and  irreproachable  in  his  morals. 

It  is  strange  that  he  was  not  ruined.  In  the  second  year  of  his 
college  course,  moved  by  some  unexplained  inward  impulse,  he 
discarded  his  horses,  society,  and  even  his  favorite  violin,  to 
which  he  had  previously  given  much  time.  He  often  devoted 
fifteen  hours  a  day  to  hard  study ;  allowing  himself  for  exercise 
only  a  run  in  the  evening  twilight  of  a  mile  out  of  the  city,  and 
back  again.  He  thus  attained  very  high  intellectual  culture, 
alike  excelling  in  philosophy  and  the  languages.  The  most  diffi- 
cult Latin  and  Greek  authors  he  read  with  facility.  A  more 
finished  scholar  has  seldom  gone  forth  from  collegiate  halls ;  and 
there  was  not  to  be  found,  perhaps,  in  all  Virginia,  a  more  pure- 
minded,  upright,  gentlemanly  young  man. 

Immediately  upon  leaving  college,  he  entered  the  law-office  of 
Mr.  Wythe,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  of  the  State. 
Mr.  Jefferson  was  then  not  twenty-one  years  of  age.  But  there 
was  something  in  his  culture,  his  commanding  character,  and  his 
dignified  yet  courteous  deportment,  which  gave  him  position  with 
men  far  his  seniors  in  age  and  his  superiors  in  rank.  The  Eng- 
lish governor  of  the  colony,  Francis  Fauquier,  was  a  man  of  great 
elegance  of  manners,  whose  mansion  was  the  home  of  a  very 
generous  hospitality.  He  had  three  especial  friends  who  often 
met,  forming  a  select  circle  at  his  table.  These  were  the  eminent 
counsellor,  George .  Wythe ;  Dr.  Small,  a  Scotch  clergyman,  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  professors  in  the  college ;  and  Thomas 
Jefferson.  It  is  said  that  that  polish  of  manners  which  distin- 
guished Mr.  Jefferson  through  life  was  acquired  in  this  society. 

In  the  law-office  he  continued  his  habits  of  intense  application 


100  LIVES  OF  THE  FRESIDEXTS. 

to  study.  In  the  winter,  he  rose  punctually  at  five  o'clock.  In 
the  summer,  as  soon  as,  in  the  first  gray  of  the  morning,  he  could 
discern  the  hands  of  the  clock  in  his  room,  he  sprang  from  his 
bed.  At  nine  o'clock  in  summer  he  retired ;  at  ten  o'clock  in 
winter,  Uis  vacations  at  Shadwell  consisted  only  of  a  change 
of  place  :  there  was  no  abatement  of  study.  His  politeness  to  all 
shielded  him  from  incivility,  and  he  never  became  engaged  in  any 
personal  rencounter.  Gambling  he  so  thoroughly  detested,  that 
he  never  learned  to  distino:uish  one  card  from  another.  Ardent 
spirits  he  never  drank,  tobacco  in  any  form  he  never  used,  and  he 
was  never  heard  to  utter  an  oath. 

He  was  fond  of  music,  and  had  studied  it  both  practically  and 
as  a  science.  Architecture,  painting,  and  sculpture  had  attracted 
so  much  of  his  attention,  that  he  was  esteemed  one  of  the  best  oi 
critics  in  the  fine  arts.  The  accurate  knowledge  he  had  acquired 
of  French  was  of  immense  use  to  him  in  his  subsequent  diplo- 
matic labors.  He  read  Spanish,  and  could  both  write  and  speak 
the  Italian.  The  Anglo-Saxon  he  studied  as  the  root  of  the  Eng- 
lish, regarding  it  as  an  important  element  in  legal  philology. 
Thus  furnished,  he  went  forth  to  act  his  part  in  life's  great 
conflict. 

While  a  student  at  law,  he  heard  Patrick  Henry,  who  had  sud- 
denly burst  forth  as  Virginia's  most  eloquent  orator,  make  one  of 
his  spirit-moving  speeches  against  the  Stamp  Act.  It  produced 
an  impression  upon  Jefi"erson's  mind  which  was  never  effaced. 
In  1767,  he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  the  law.  His  thor- 
oughly disciplined  mind,  ample  stores  of  knowledge,  and  polished 
address,  were  rapidly  raising  him  to  distinction,  when  the  out- 
break of  the  Revolution  caused  the  general  abandonment  of  the 
courts  of  justice,  and  introduced  him  to  loftier  spheres  of  respon- 
sibility, and  to  action  in  an  arena  upon  which  the  eyes  of  the  civil- 
ized world  were  concentrated. 

Jeflerson,  though  so  able  with  his  pen,  was  not  distinguished  as 
a  public  speaker.  He  seldom  ventured  to  take  any  part  in  debate. 
Still,  wherever  he  appeared,  he  produced  a  profound  impression 
as  a  deep  thinker,  an  accurate  reasoner,  and  a  man  of  enlarged 
and  statesman-like  views. 

He  had  been  but  a  short  time  admitted  to  the  bar  ere  he  was 
chosen  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  a  seat  in  the  Legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia.    This  was  in  1769.     Jefferson  was  then  the  largest  slave- 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  101 

holder  in  the  house.  It  is  a  remarkable  evidence  of  his  foresight, 
his  moral  courage,  and  the  love  of  liberty  which  then  inspired 
him,  that  he  introduced  a  bill  empowering  slaveholders  to  manumit 
their  slaves  if  they  wished  to  do  so.  Slavery  caught  the  alarm. 
The  proposition  Avas  rejected  by  an  overwhelming  vote. 

In  1770,  Mr.  Jefferson's  house  at  Shadwell  was  burned  to  the 
ground;  and  his  valuable  library,  consisting  of  two  thousand  vol- 
umes, disappeared  in  the  flames.  He  was  absent  from  home  at 
the  time.  A  slave  came  to  him  with  the  appalling  news.  "  But 
were  none  of  my  books  saved  ?  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Jefferson.  "  None," 
was  the  reply;  and  then  the  fece  of  the  music-loving  negro  grew 
radiant  as  he  added,  "  But,  massa,  we  saved  the  fiddle."  In  after- 
3'ears,  when  the  grief  of  the  irreparable  loss  was  somewhat  as- 
suaged, Mr.  Jefferson  was  in  the  habit  of  relating  this  anecdote 
with  much  glee. 

He  had  inherited  an  estate  of  nearly  two  thousand  acres  of 
land,  which  he  soon  increased  to  five  thousand  acres.  His  income 
from  this  land,  tilled  by  about  fifty  slaves,  and  from  his  practice 
at  the  bar,  amounted  to  five  thousand  dollars  a  year,  —  a  large 
sum  in  those  times. 

In  1772,  he  married  Mrs.  Martha  Skelton,  a  very  beautiful, 
wealthy,  and  highly  accomplished  young  widow.  She  brought  to 
him,  as  her  munificent  dowry,  forty  thousand  acres  of  land,  and 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  slaves.  He  thus  became  one  of  the 
largest  slaveholders  in  Virginia :  and  yet  he  labored  with  all  his 
energies  for  the  abolition  of  slavery;  declaring  the  institution  to 
be  a  curse  to  the  master,  a  curse  to  the  slave,  and  an  offence  in 
the  sight  of  God. 

Upon  Mr.  Jefferson's  large  estate  at  Shadwell,  there  was  a  ma- 
jestic swell  of  land,  called  Monticello,  which  commanded  a  pros- 
pect of  wonderful  extent  and  beauty.  This  spot  Mr.  Jefferson 
selected  for  his  new  home ;  and  here  he  reared  a  mansion  of  mod- 
est yet  elegant  architecture,  which,  next  to  Mount  Vernon,  became 
the  most  distinguished  resort  in  our  land.  His  wedding,  which 
took  place  at  the  house  of  John  Wayles,  the  father  of  the  bride, 
who  resided  at  a  seat  called  "  The  Forest,"  in  Charles-city  County, 
was  celebrated  with  much  splendor.  It  was  a  long  ride  in  their 
carriage,  along  the  Valley  of  the  James,  to  their  secluded  home 
among  the  mountains  of  Albemarle  County.  It  was  the  month  of 
January.     As  they  drew  near  the  hills,  the  ground  was  whitened 


102  LIVES  OF  TEE  PRESIDENTS. 

with  snow,  which  increased  in  depth  as  thej  advanced,  until, 
when  in  the  evening  they  were  entering  the  mountains,  they 
found  the  road  so  obstructed,  that  they  were  compelled  to  leave 
their  carriage  at  a  dilapidated  house,  and  mount  their  horses. 
It  was  a  cold  winter's  night.  The  snow  was  two  feet  deep  along 
the  mountain-track  which  they  were  now  threading.  Late  at 
night,  shivering  and  weary,  they  reached  the  summit  of  the  hill, 
nearly  six  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  stream  at  its  base. 

Here  a  gloomy  reception  awaited  them.  There  were  no  lights 
in  the  house :  all  the  fires  were  out.  The  slaves  were  soundly 
asleep  in  their  cabins.  But  youth  and  prosperity  and  love  could 
convert  this  '•  horrible  dreariness  "  into  an  occasion  of  mirth  and 
fun  and  laughter. 

"U'ith  his  large  estates,  and  his  retinue  of  servants,  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son could  afford  to  indulge  in  the  luxury  of  magnificent  horses. 
He  usually  kept  half  a  dozen  high-blooded  brood-mares.  He  was 
very  particular  about  his  saddle-horse.  It  is  said  that,  when  quite 
a  young  man,  if  there  was  a  spot  on  the  horse,  when  led  out,  which 
would  soil  a  linen  handkerchief,  the  groom  was  sure  of  a  severe 
reprimand. 

There  was,  about  this  time,  a  British  vessel,  "  The  Gaspee,"  sta- 
tioned in  Narragansett  Bay  to  enforce  the  revenue-laws.  The 
insolence  of  its  officers  had  led,  in  June,  1772,  to  its  being  de- 
coyed aground,  and  burned.  The  British  Government  retaliated 
by  passing  a  law  that  the  wilful  destruction  of  the  least  thing 
belonging  to  the  navy  should  be  punishable  with  death.  At  the 
same  time,  a  court  of  inquiry  was  sent  over  to  try  those  impli- 
cated in  the  ''  Gaspee  "  aflair,  or  to  send  them  to  England  for  trial 
should  they  choose  to  do  so. 

Some  very  spirited  resolutions  were  immediately  drawn  up  by 
Thomas  Jefierson,  appointing  a  standing  committee  to  obtain  the 
earliest  intelligence  of  all  proceedings  in  England  with  regard  to 
the  colonies,  and  by  communicating  this  knowledge,  in  correspond- 
ence with  the  sister  colonies,  to  prepare  for  united  action  in  op- 
posing any  infringement  of  colonial  rights.  This  was  the  intent 
of  the  resolutions.  They  were  so  skilfully  worded,  that  even  the 
moderate  party  could  not  refuse  to  vote  for  them.  But  the  then 
governor,  the  Earl  of  Dunmore,  manifested  his  displeasure  by  im- 
mediately dissolving  the  house.  The  committee,  however,  met 
the  next  day,  sent  a  copy  of  the  resolutions  to  the  other  colonies, 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  103 

and  requested  them  to  appoint  a  committee  to  correspond  with 
the  Virginia  committee.  Though  Massachusetts  had  two  years 
before  made  a  similar  movement,  for  some  unexplained  reason  the 
measure  did  not  go  into  action ;  and  Jefferson  is  justly  entitled  to 
the  honor  of  haviDg  put  into  operation  the  "  Committees  of  Cor- 
respondence," which  afterwards  became  so  potent  in  resisting  the 
encroachments  of  the  British  crown. 

When  the  British  cabinet,  in  1774,  enacted  the  Boston  Port 
Bill,  shutting  up  the  harbor,  and  thus  dooming  Boston  to  ruin, 
Mr.  Jefferson  and  a  few  of  his  associates  met,  and,  as  a  measure 
to  rouse  the  people  of  all  the  colonies  to  sympathetic  action  with 
Massachusetts,  drew  up  some  resolutions,  appointing  a  day  of 
fasting  and  prayer.."  to  implore  Heaven  to  avert  from  us  the  evil 
of  civil  war,  to  inspire  us  with  firmness  in  support  of  our  rights, 
and  to  turn  the  hearts  of  the  king  and  parliament  to  moderation 
and  justice."  Mr.  Nichols,  a  man  of  grave  and  religious  charac- 
ter, moved  the  resolutions  ;  and  they  were  adopted  without  opposi- 
tion. The  governor  was  so  irritated,  that  he  dissolved  the  house, 
declaring  that  the  measure  "  was  a  high  reflection  upon  his 
Majesty  and  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain." 

The  members  of  the  Colonial  Court,  after  the  dissolution,  met  in 
association,  receiveds  into  their  number  several  clergymen  and 
private  citizens,  denounced  the  course  of  England,  declared  it 
unpatriotic  to  purchase  any  of  the  articles  which  she  had  taxed, 
avowed  that  they  considered  an  attack  on  one  colony  an  attack  on 
all,  and  recommended  a  General  Annual  Congress.  This  was  in 
the  spring  of  1774.  Thoma^  Jefferson,  Patrick  Henry,  and  the 
two  Lees,  were  the  active  agents  in  this  important  movement. 
The  clergy  entered  into  the  measures  with  earnest  patriotism. 
The  day  of  prayer  was  almost  universally  observed  with  appro- 
priate discourses.  Mr.  Jefferson  writes,  "  The  effect  of  the  day 
through  the  whole  colony  was  like  a  shock  of  electricity,  arousing 
every  man,  and  placing  him  erect  and  solidly  on  his  centre." 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  now  very  thoroughly  aroused ;  and  he  was 
busy  with  voice  and  pen  in  the  assertion,  that  the  American  colo- 
nies had  a  right  to  govern  themselves  through  their  own  legisla- 
tures. He  wrote  a  pamphlet  entitled  "A  Summary  View  of  the 
Rights  of  British  America."  It  attracted  so  much  attention,  that 
it  was  published  in  several  editions  in  England.  The  British  had 
now  unsheathed  the  sword  at  Lexington,  and  Jefferson  was  in 


104  LIVES  OF  THE  rRESIDENTS. 

favor  of  decisive  measures.  His  pen  was  ever  active,  and  every 
line  that  came  from  it  was  marked  with  power. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  second  convention  of  Virginia,  in  March, 
1775,  the  resolution  was  adopted,  earnestly  advocated  by  Jeffer- 
son, to  put  the  colony  into  a  state  of  defence  by  embodying,  arm- 
ing, and  disciphning  a  sufficient  number  of  men.  George  Wash- 
ington and  Thomas  Jefferson  were  on  the  committee  to  carry 
these  resolutions  into  effect. 

On  the  11th  of  June,  1775,  Mr.  Jefferson  left  Williamsburg  to 
take  his  seat  in  the  Colonial  Congress  at  Philadelphia.  He  trav- 
elled in  a  phaeton,  leading  two  spare  horses ;  and  was  ten  days  in 
making  a  journey  which  can  now  be  accomplished  in  as  many 
hours.  The  roads  were  so  intricate  and  unfrequented,  that,  at 
times,  he  had  to  hire  guides.  Congress  had  been  in  session  six 
weeks  when  he  arrived ;  and  he  was  the  youngest  member  in  the 
body  but  one.  His  reputation  as  a  writer  had  preceded  him ;  and 
he  immediately  took  a  conspicuous  stand,  though  he  seldom  spoke. 
John  Adams,  in  his  autobiography,  alluding  to  the  favorable  im- 
pression which  Mr.  Jefferson  made,  writes,  — 

"  Though  a  silent  member  in  Congress,  he  was  so  prompt,  frank, 
explicit,  and  decisive  upon  committees  and  in  conversation  (not 
even  Samuel  Adams  was  more  so),  that  he  soon  seized  upon  my 
heart." 

Blunt,  brave-hearted,  magnanimous,  John  Adams  could  not  brook 
opposition,  and  he  was  ever  involved  in  quarrels.  The  impetuous, 
■fiery  debater,  is,  of  course,  more  exposed  to  this  than  the  careful 
writer  who  ponders  the  significance  of  every  word.  The  native 
suavity  of  Jefferson,  his  modesty,  and  the  frankness  and  force 
with  which  he  expressed  his  views,  captivated  his  opponents.  It 
is  said  that  he  had  not  an  enemv  in  Con2:ress.  In  five  davs  after 
he  had  taken  his  seat,  he  was  appointed  on  a  committee  to  pre- 
pare an  address  on  the  causes  of  taking  up  arms.  The  produc- 
tion was  mainly  from  his  pen.  It  was  one  of  the  most  popuiar 
documents  ever  written,  and  was  greeted  with  enthusiasm  from 
the  pulpit  and  in.  the  market-place.  It  was  read  at  the  head  of 
the  armies  amidst  the  booming  of  cannon  and  the  huzzas  of  the 
soldiers.  Yet  Thomas  Jefferson  suffered  the  reputation  of  the 
authorship  to  rest  with  one  of  his  associates  on  the  committee  all 
his  life  long.  It  was  only  after  the  death  of  both  Jefierson  and 
Pickinson  that  the   real  author  of  the  document  was  publicly 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  105 

known.  ,  These  traits  of  character  which  are  thus  developed,  one 
after  another,  surely  indicate  a  very  noble  and  extraordinary  man. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  decided  as  he  was  in  his  views,  never 
in  the  slightest  degree  a  trimmer,  he  won  the  confidence  and  the 
afiection  both  of  the  most  radical  men  of  the  progressive  party, 
and  the  most  cautious  of  the  conservatives.  John  Adams  on  the 
one  side,  and  John  Dickinson  on  the  other,  were  warm  personal 
friends  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Soon  after  this,  on  the  22d  of  July,  a  committee,  consisting  of 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Adams,  and  Richard 
H,  Lee,  were  appointed  to  report  on  Lord  North's  "conciliatory 
proposition."  Jefferson,  the  youngest  member  in  the  house,  was 
chosen  by  these  illustrious  colleagues  to  draught  the  paper. 

Even  as  late  as  the  autumn  of  1775,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  hoping 
for  reconciliation  with  England.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Randolph,  who 
had  sided  with  the  British,  and  was  about  to  sail  for  England,  he 
wrote,  — 

"  I  am  sincerely  one  of  those  who  still  wish  for  re-union  with 
the  parent  country ;  and  would  rather  be  in  dependence  on  Great 
Britain,  properly  limited,  than  on  any  nation  upon  earth,  or  than 
on  no  nation.  But  I  am  one  of  those  too,  who,  rather  than  sub- 
mit to  the  rights  of  legislating  for  us  assumed  by  the  British  Par- 
liament, and  which  late  experience  has  shown  they  will  so  cruelly 
exercise,  would  lend  my  hand  to  sink  the  whole  island  in  the 
ocean." 

Three  months  after  this,  I'oused  by  the  ferocity  which  the  Brit- 
ish ministry  were  displaying,  he  wrote  to  the  same  man,  then  in 
England,  in  tones  of  almost  prophetic  solemnity  and  indigna- 
tion :  — 

"Believe  me,  dear  sir,  there  is  not  in  the  British  Empire  a  man 
who  more  cordially  loves  a  union  with  Great  Britain  than  I  do : 
but,  by  the  God  that  made  me,  I  will  cease  to  exist  before  I  yield 
to  a  connection  on  such  terms  as  the  British  Parliament  propose ; 
and  in  this  I  think  I  speak  the  sentiments  of  America." 

At  length,  the  hour  came  for  draughting  the  "  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence." The  responsible  task  was  committed  to  the  pen  of 
Jefferson.  Franklin  and  Adams  suggested  a  few  verbal  correc- 
tions before  it  was  submitted  to  Congress.  The  immortal  docu- 
ment was  presented  to  the  Congress  on  the  28th  of  June,  1776, 
and  was  adopted  and  signed  on  the  4th  of  July.     The  Declaration 

14 

I 


106  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

passed  a  fiery  ordeal  of  criticism.  For  three  days,  the  debate 
continued.  Mr.  Jeflferson  opened  not  his  lips.  "  John  Adams,"  it 
has  been  said,  '^  was  the  great  champion  of  the  Declaration  on  the 
floor,  fighting  fearlessly  for  every  word  of  it,  and  with  a  power 
to  which  a  mind  masculine  and  impassioned  in  its  conceptions,  a 
will  of  torrentrlike  force,  a  heroism  which  only  glared  forth  more 
luridly  at  the  approach  of  danger,  and  a  patriotism  whose  burning 
throb  was  rather  akin  to  the  feeling  of  a  parent  fighting  over  his 
offspring  than  to  the  colder  sentiment  of  tamer  minds,  lent  resist- 
less sway." 

The  comic  and  the  tragic,  the  sublime  and  the  ridiculous,  are 
ever  blended  in  this  world.  One  may  search  all  the  ages  to  find 
a  more  solemn,  momentous  event  than  the  signing  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence.  It  was  accompanied  with  prayer  to 
Almighty  God.  Silence  pervaded  the  room  as  one  after  another 
afiixed  his  name  to  that  document,  which  brought  down  upon  him 
the  implacable  hate  of  the  mightiest  power  upon  the  globe,  and 
which  doomed  him  inevitably  to  the  scaffold,  should  the  feeble 
colonies  fail  in  the  unequal  struggle.  In  the  midst  of  this  scene, 
Benjamin  Harrison,  a  Virginia  grandee  of  immense  corpulence, 
weighing  something  like  a  third  of  a  ton,  looked  down  upon  Mr. 
Gerry,  a  small,  fragile,  slender  man,  whom  a  breath  of  wind 
would  almost  blow  away,  and  remarked,  with  a  characteristic 
chuckle,  — 

"  Gerry,  when  the  hanging  comes,  I  shall  have  the  advantage. 
You'll  kick  in  the  air  half  an  hour  after  it  is  all  over  with  me." 

The  colonies  were  now  independent  States.  Jefferson  resigned 
for  a  time  his  seat  in  Congress  to  aid  in  organizing  the  govern- 
ment of  Virginia.  Here  we  first  meet  in  public  with  a  young 
man  —  James  Madison  —  of  refined  culture,  of,  polished  address, 
of  keen  powers  of  reasoning,  of  spotless  purity  of  character,  with 
whose  name  the  future  of  the  nation  became  intimately  blended. 

In  1779,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  chosen  Governor  of  Virginia.  He 
was  then  thirty-six  years  of  age.  The  British  were  now  prepar- 
ing to  strike  their  heaviest  blows  upon  Georgia  and  the  Caro- 
linas.  Establishing  themselves  in  those  thinly  populated  States, 
they  intended  thence  to  march  resistlessly  towards  the  North.  A 
proclamation  was  also  issued  declaring  the  intention  of  Great 
Britain  to  devastate  the  colonies  as  utterly  as  possible,  that,  in  the 
event  of  the  success  of  the  Revolution,  they  might  prove  value 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  107 

less  to  France,  who  had  become  our  ally.  When  Jefferson  took 
the  chair  of  state,  Georgia  had  fallen  helpless  into  the  hands 
of  the  foe  ;  South  Carolina  was  invaded,  and  Charleston  threat- 
ened ;  the  savages  on  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi,  provided 
with  British  arms,  and  often  led  by  British  officers,  were  perpe- 
trating horrid  outrages  on  our  frontiers. 

In  these  trying  hours,  Mr.  Jefferson,  with  all  the  energies  of  his 
mind  and  heart,  sustained  Gen.  Washington,  ever  ready  to  sacri- 
fice all  local  interests  for  the  general  cause.  At  one  time,  the 
British  officer,  Tarleton,  sent  a  secret  expedition  to  Monticello  to 
capture  the  governor.  Scarcely  five  minutes  elapsed,  after  the 
hurried  escape  of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  family,  ere  his  mansion 
was  in  the  possession  of  the  British  troops.  Mr.  Jefferson  had  a 
plantation  at  Elk  Hill,  opposite  Elk  Island,  on  the  James  River.  A 
detachment  of  the  army  of  Cornwallis,  in  their  march  north  from 
the  Carolinas,  seized  it.  The  foe  destroyed  all  his  crops,  burnt 
his  barns  and  fences,  drove  off  the  cattle,  seized  the  serviceable 
horses,  cut  the  throats  of  the  colts,  and  left  the  whole  plantation 
a  smouldering,  blackened  waste.  Twenty-seven  slaves  were  also 
carried  off.  "  Had  he  carried  off  the  slaves,"  says  Jefferson  with 
characteristic  magnanimity,  "  to  give  them  freedom,  he  would 
have  done  right."  A  large  number  of  these  slaves  died  of  putrid 
fever,  then  raging  in  the  British  camp.  Of  all  this,  Mr.  Jefferson 
never  uttered  a  complaint. 

In  September,  1776,  Congress  had  chosen  Franklin,  Jefferson, 
and  Silas  Deane,  commissioners  to  negotiate  treaties  of  alliance 
and  commerce  with  France.  Jefferson  declined  the  appointment, 
as  he  deemed  it  necessary  that  he  should  remain  at  home  to  assist 
in  the  organization  of  the  State  Government  of  Virginia.  As  gov- 
ernor, he  had  rendered  invaluable  service  to  the  common  cause. 
He  was  now,  in  June,  1781,  again  appointed  to  co-operate  with 
Adams,  Franklin,  Jay,  and  Laurens,  in  Europe,  as  ministers  pleni- 
potentiary to  treat  for  peace ;  but  the  exceedingly  delicate  state 
of  Mrs.  Jefferson's  health,  who  had  suffered  terribly  from  anxiety, 
exposure,  and  grief,  and  who  was  so  frail  that  it  would  have  been 
the  extreme  of  cruelty  to  expose  her  and  her  two  surviving  chil- 
dren to  the  peril  of  capture  by  British  ships  then  covering  the 
ocean,  or  to  leave  her  at  home  separated  from  her  husband,  while 
Tarleton,  with  savage  ferocity,  was  sweeping  the  State  in  all 
directions,  rendered  it  clearly  his  duty  again  to  decline. 


108  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

About  this  time  he  was  thrown  from  his  horse,  and  quite  seri- 
ously injured.  This  accident,  and  the  sickness  of  his  wife,  confined 
him  to  his  secluded  forest  home  for  several  months.  He  improved 
the  hours  in  writing  his  celebrated  "  Notes  on  Virginia."  The 
work  attracted  much  attention ;  was  republished  in  England  and 
France,  and  introduced  his  name  favorably  to  the  philosophers  of 
the  Continent.  It  is  still  a  perplexing  question  how  it  was  possi- 
ble for  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  those  days  when  Virginia  was  in  many 
parts  almost  an  unexplored  wilderness,  ranged  by  Indians,  with 
scarcely  any  roads,  to  have  obtained  the  vast  amount  of  minute 
and  accurate  information  which  he  has  presented  in  these  Notes. 
The  whole  is  written  in  a  glowing  style  of  pure  and  undefiled 
English,  which  often  soars  to  the  eloquent. 

But  man  is  born  to  mourn.  In  every  life,  there  come  days 
which  are  "  cold  and  dark  and  dreary."  It  was  now  the  latter 
part  of  the  year  1781.  Jefferson,  like  Washington,  was  exces- 
sively sensitive  to  reproach ;  while  at  the  same  time  both  of  these 
illustrious  men  possessed  that  noble  nature  which  induced  them 
to  persevere  in  the  course  which  seemed  to  be  right,  notwith- 
standing all  the  sufferings  which  calumny  could  heap  upon  them. 
A  party  rose  in  Virginia,  dissatisfied  with  the  course  Jefferson  had 
pursued  in  his  attempt  to  repel  the  invaders  of  the  State.  They 
tried  to  drive  him  from  his  office,  crush  his  reputation,  and  raise  a 
dictator  to  occupy  his  place.  The  indignity  pierced  him  to  the 
quick.  He  was  too  proud  to  enter  upon  a  defence  of  himself. 
His  wife,  one  of  the  most  lovely  and  loving  of  Christian  ladies, 
and  to  whom  he  was  attached  with  a  romance  of  affection  never 
exceeded,  Avas  sinking  away  in  lingering  death.  There  was  no 
hope  of  her  recovery.  The  double  calamity  of  a  pitiless  storm  of 
vituperation  out  of  doors,  and  a  dying  wife  within,  so  affected  his 
spirits,  that  he  resolved  to  retire  from  public  life,  and  to  spend  the 
remainder  of  his  days  in  the  quietude  of  his  desolated  home.  It 
was  indeed  a  gloomy  day  which  was  now  settling  down  around 
him. 

He  had  been  pursued  like  a  felon,  from  place  to  place,  b}^  the 
British  soldiery.  His  property  had  been  wantonly  and  brutally 
destroyed.  Many  of  his  slaves  whom  he  loved,  and  whose  freedom 
he  was  laboring  to  secure,  had  perished  miserably.  He  was  suf- 
fering from  severe  personal  injuries  caused  by  the  fall  from  his 
horse.  His  wife  was  dying,  and  his  good  name  was  fiercely 
assailed. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  109 

Mrs.  Jefferson  was  a  Christian,  a  loving  disciple  of  the  Re- 
deemer. But  there  were  no  cheering  Christian  hopes  to  sustain 
the  sinking  heart  of  her  husband  ;  for  he  had  many  doubts  respect- 
ing the  truth  of  Christianity.  He  must  often  have  exclaimed  in 
anguish  of  spirit,  "  Oh  that  I  could  believe  ! "  The  poison  of 
scepticism  had  been  early  instilled  into  his  nature ;  and  in  these 
hours  of  earthly  gloom  he  had  no  faith,  no  hope,  to  support  him. 
Happy  is  he,  who,  in  such  seasons  of  sorrow,  can  by  faith  hear 
a  Saviour's  voice  'whispering  to  him,  "  Let  not  your  heart  be 
troubled."  Beautifully  has  Jefferson's  biographer,  Mr.  Randall, 
said,  in  describing  these  scenes, — 

"  The  faithful  daughter  of  the  Church  had  no  dread  of  the  here- 
after ;  but  she  yearned  to  remain  with  her  husband,  with  that 
yearning  which  seems  to  have  power  to  retard  even  the  ap- 
proaches of  death.  Her  e3'es  were  rested  on  him,  ever  followed 
him.  When  he  spoke,  no  other  sound  could  reach  her  ear  or 
attract  her  attention.  When  she  waked  from  slumber,  she  looked 
momentarily  alarmed  and  distressed,  and  even  appeared  to  be 
frightened,  if  the  customary  form  was  not  bending  over  her,  the 
customary  look  upon  her." 

For  weeks,  Mr.  Jefferson  sat  lovingly,  but  with  a  crushed  heart, 
at  that  bedside.  Unfeeling  letters  were  sent  to  him,  accusing  him 
of  weakness,  of  unfaithfulness  to  duty,  in  thus  secluding  himself 
at  home,  and  urging  him  again  to  come  forth  to  life's  great  battle. 
For  four  months,  Jefferson  was  never  beyond  the  call  of  his  dying 
wife.  No  woman  could  have  proved  a  more  tender  nurse.  He 
seemed  unwilling  that  any  one  else  should  administer  to  her  medi- 
cine and  drink.  When  not  at  her  bedside,  he  was  writing  in  a 
closet  which  opened  at  the  head  of  her  bed.  She  died  on  the  6th 
of  September,  1782.  Who  can  imagine  the  anguish  which  a  warm- 
hearted man  must  feel  in  witnessing  the  death  of  a  wife  whom  he 
loved  almost  to  adoration,  and  unsustained  by  that  hope  of  re-union 
in  heaven  which  a  belief  in  Christianity  confers  ?  His  distress 
was  so  terrible,  that  his  friends  were  compelled  to  lead  him  from 
the  room,  almost  in  a  state  of  insensibility,  before  the  scene  was 
closed.  With  difficulty  they  conveyed  him  into  the  library.  He 
fainted  entirely  away,  and  remained  so  long  insensible,  that  it  was 
feared  he  never  would  recover.  His  eldest  daughter,  Mrs.  Ran- 
dolph, writes,  — 

*'  The  violence  of  his  emotion,  when  almost  by  stealth  I  entered 


110  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

his  room  at  night,  to  this  day  I  dare  not  trust  myself  to  describe. 
He  kept  his  room  three  weeks,  and  I  was  never  a  moment  from 
his  side.  He  walked  almost  incessantly  night  and  day;  only 
lying  down  occasionally,  when  nature  was  completely  exhausted, 
on  a  pallet  which  had  been  brought  in  during  his  long  fainting-fit. 
"When,  at  last,  he  left  his  room,  he  rode  out ;  and  from  that  time 
he  was  incessantly  on  horseback,  rambling  about  the  mountain,  in 
the  least-frequented  roads,  and  just  as  often  through  the  woods. 
In  those  melancholy  rambles,  I  was  his  constant  companion ;  a  soli- 
tary witness  to  many  violent  bursts  of  grief,  the  remembrance  of 
which  has  consecrated  particular  scenes  of  that  lost  home  beyond 
the  power  of  time  to  obliterate." 

The  inscription  which  the  philosopher,  uncheered  by  Christian 
faith,  placed  upon  the  gravestone  of  his  companion,  one  cannot 
but  read  with  sadness.  It  was  a  quotation,  in  Greek,  from  the 
"  Iliad,"  of  the  apostrophe  of  Achilles  over  the  dead  body  of  Hec- 
tor.    The  lines  are  thus  freely  translated  by  Pope :  — 

"  If,  in  the  melancholy  shades  below,  ' 

The  flames  of  friends  and  lovers  cease  to  glow, 
Yet  mine  shall  sacred  last ;  mine,  undecayed, 
Burn  on  through  death,  and  animate  my  shade." 

Without  the  light  which  Christianity  gives,  death  is,  indeed,  the 
king  of  terrors,  and  the  grave  retains  its  victory.  Forty-four 
years  after  the  death  of  Mrs.  Jefferson,  there  were  found  in  a 
secret  drawer  in  a  private  cabinet,  to  which  he  frequently  re- 
sorted, locks  of  hair,  and  various  other  little  souvenirs  of  his  wife, 
with  words  of  endearment  upon  the  envelopes.  He  never  married 
again.  This  tenderness  of  affection  in  this  man  of  imperial  mind 
and  inflexible  resolve  is  one  of  the  most  marked  traits  of  his 
character. 

The  English  ministry  were  now  getting  tired  of  the  war.  The 
opposition  in  Parliament  had  succeeded  in  carrying  a  resolution 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1782,  "That  all  those  who  should  advise,  or 
by  any  means  attempt,  the  further  prosecution  of  offensive  war  in 
America,  should  be  considered  as  enemies  to  their  king  and  coun- 
try." This  popular  decision  overcame  the  obstinacy  of  the  king, 
and  he  was  compelled  to  make  overtures  for  peace.  Mr.  Jefferson 
was  re-appointed  on  the  12th  of  November  by  Congress,  unani- 
mously, and  without  a  single  adverse  remark,  minister  plenipoten- 
tiary to  negotiate  a  treaty. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  Ill 

Alluding  to  this,  he  writes  to  a  friend,  "  Your  letter  found  me 
a  little  emerging  from  the  stupor  of  mind  which  had  rendered  me 
as  dead  to  the  world  as  she  whose  loss  occasioned  it.  Before  that 
event,  my  scheme  of  life  had  been  determined.  I  had  folded  my- 
self in  the  arms  of  retirement,  and  rested  all  prospects  of  future 
happiness  on  domestic  and  literar}^  objects.  In  this  state  of  mind, 
an  appointment  from  Congress  found  me,  requiring  me  to  cross 
the  Atlantic." 

There  were  various  and  complicated  obstacles  in  the  way  of  his 
departure;  while,  in  the  mean  time,  the  treaty  of  peace  was  effect- 
ed, and  it  became  unnecessary  for  him  to  go  upon  that  mission. 
Those  who  had  assailed  him  had  withdrawn  their  accusations,  and 
legislative  enactment  had  done  justice  to  his  career.  He  was 
again  elected  to  Congress.  At  this  period,  he  wrote  many  affec- 
tionate letters  to  his  daughters,  who  were  then  at  school.  These 
letters  reveal  the  heart  of  a  watchful  and  loving  father.  Martha, 
who  was  at  school  at  Annapolis,  had  been  disturbed  by  some  pre- 
dictions respecting  the  speedy  end  of  the  world.  He  writes  to 
her, — 

"  As  to  preparations  for  that  event,  the  best  way  for  you  is  to 
be  always  prepared  for  it.  The  only  way  to  be  so  is  never  to  do 
or  say  a  bad  thing.  If  ever  you  are  about  to  say  any  thing  amiss,  or 
to  do  any  thing  wrong,  consider  beforehand.  You  will  feel  some- 
thing within  you  which  will  tell  you  it  is  wrong,  and  ought  not  to 
be  said  or  done.  This  is  your  conscience,  and  be  sure  to  obey. 
Our  Maker  has  given  us  all  this  faithful  internal  monitor  ;  and,  if 
you  always  obey  it,  you  will  always  be  prepared  for  the  end  of  the 
world,  or  for  a  much  more  certain  event,  —  which  is  death.  This 
must  happen  to  all.  It  puts  an  end  to  the  world  as  to  us ;  and 
the  way  to  be  ready  for  it  is  never  to  do  a  wrong  act." 

Her  sainted  Christian  mother  would  have  added  to  this  most 
excellent  advice,  "And,  my  dear  child,  pray  night  and  morning 
to  your  heavenly  Father  that  he  will  help  you  to  do  right,  and  to 
resist  temptation  to  do  wrong.  And,  when  you  feel  your  own 
unworthiness,  do  not  be  disheartened.  God  is  a  loving  Father. 
He  has  given  his  Son  to  die  for  us ;  and,  sinners  as  we  all  are,  we 
can  be  forgiven  if  we  repent,  and  trust  in  him." 

In  March,  1784,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  appointed  on  a  committee  to 
draught  a  plan  for  the  government  of  that  immense  region  called 
the  North-western  Territory.     The  draught  is  still  preserved  in 


112  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

his  handwriting  in  Washington.  True  to  his  unwavering  princi- 
ple of  devotion  to  the  rights  of  humanity,  he  inscribed  in  the 
ordinance  the  provision,  "  That,  after  the  year  1800  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude 
in  any  of  the  said  States,  otherwise  than  in  punishment  of  crimes 
whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted  to  have  been 
personally  guilty."  This  clause  was  stricken  out  by  motion  of 
Mr.  Spaight  of  North  Carolina,  seconded  by  Mr.  Read  of  South 
Carolina. 

Mr.  Jefferson  had  wonderful  power  of  winning  men  to  his 
opinions,  while  he  scrupulously  avoided  all  controversy.  The 
following  extract  from  a  letter  to  his  grandson  brings  clearly  to 
lio'ht  this  trait  in  his  character  :  — 

''In  stating  prudential  rules  for  our  government  in  society,  I 
must  not  omit  the  important  one  of  never  entering  into  dispute  or 
argument  with  another.  I  never  yet  saw  an  instance  of  one  of 
two  disputants  convincing  the  other  by  argument.  I  have  seen 
many  of  them  getting  warm,  becoming  rude,  and  shooting  one 
another.  Conviction  is  the  effect  of  our  own  dispassionate  rea- 
soning, either  in  solitude,  or  weighing  within  ourselves  dispas- 
sionately what  we  hear  from  others,  standing  uncommitted  in 
argument  ourselves.  It  was  one  of  the  rules,  which,  above  aU 
others,  made  Dr.  Franklin  the  most  amiable  of  men  in  society, 
'  never  to  contradict  anybody.'  " 

Jefferson  was  by  nature  a  gentleman, — affable,  genial,  courteous, 
considerate  to  the  poor.  Thus  he  was  a  great  favorite  with  all 
who  knew  him.  Stormy  as  were  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  he 
never  got  into  a  personal  altercation  with  any  one,  never  gave  or 
received  a  challenge,  and  was  never  known  to  encounter  a  per- 
sonal insult. 

In  May,  1784,  Congress  appointed  Mr.  Jefferson  to  act  as  minister 
plenipotentiary  with  Mr.  Adams  and  Dr.  Franklin  in  negotiating 
treaties  of  commerce  with  foreign  nations.  Leaving  two  daugh- 
ters with  their  maternal  aunt,  one  six  years  of  age,  and  the  other 
a  frail  babe  of  two  years,  who  soon  died,  he  took  his  eldest  daugh- 
ter Martha  with  him,  and  sailed  for  Europe  on  the  5th  of  July 
from  Boston.  After  a  delightful  voyage,  he  reached  Paris  on  the 
6th  of  August.  Here  he  placed  his  daughter  at  school,  and,  meet- 
ing his  colleagues  at  Passy,  engaged  vigorously  with  them  in  ac- 
complishing the  object  of  his  mission.     Dr.  Franklin,  now  aged 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  113 

and  infirm,  obtained  permission  to  return  home  from  his  embassy 
to  France.  His  genial  character,  combined  with  his  illustrious 
merit,  had  won  the  love  of  the  French  people  ;  and  he  was 
unboundedly  popular  with  both  peasant  and  prince.  Such  atten- 
tions were  lavished  upon  him  in  his  journey  from  Paris  to  the 
coast,  that  it  was  almost  an  ovation.  It  was,  indeed,  a  delicate 
matter  to  step  into  the  position  which  had  been  occupied  by  one 
so  enthusiastically  admired.  Few  men  could  have  done  this  so 
gracefully  as  did  Jefferson. 

"  You  replace  M.  Franklin,  I  hear,"  said  the  celebrated  French 
minister,  the  Count  de  Vergennes.  "  I  succeed  him,"  was  the 
prompt  reply :  "  no  man  can  replace  him." 

The  French  officers  who  had  served  in  America  had  carried 
back  glowing  reports  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  the  accomplished  gen- 
tleman, the  brilliant  scholar  and  philosopher,  and  the  profound 
statesman.  One  of  his  noble  visitors,  the  Count  Chastellux,  had 
written  a  graphic  account  of  his  elegant  mountain-home,  amidst 
the  sublime  solitudes  of  the  Alleghanies,  where,  from  his  veranda, 
he  looked  down  upon  countless  leagues  of  the  primeval  forest,  and 
where  the  republican  senator  administered  the  rites  of  hospitality 
with  grace  which  would  have  adorned  the  saloons  of  Versailles. 
Jefierson  and  Franklin  were  kindred  spirits.  They  were  both  on 
the  most  friendly  terms  with  the  French  minister. 

'^  I  found  the  Count  de  Yergennes,"  writes  Mr.  Jefferson,  "  as 
frank,  as  honorable,  as  easy  of  access  to  reason,  as  any  man  with 
whom  I  had  ever  done  business." 

Even  Mr.  Adams's  dogmatic  spirit  was  mollified  by  the  urbanity 
of  his  colleague,  and  the  most  sincere  attachment  existed  between 
them.  Mrs.  Adams,  who  stood  upon  the  highest  platform  of  moral 
excellence,  and  who  was  a  keen  judge  of  character,  was  charmed 
with  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  wrote  to  her  sister  that  he  was  "  the  chosen 
of  the  earth." 

His  saloon  was  ever  crowded  with  the  choicest  society  of  Paris. 
If  any  distinguished  stranger  came  to  the  gay  metropolis,  he  was 
sure  to  find  his  way  to  the  hotel  of  the  American  ambassador.  No 
foreign  minister,  with  the  exception  of  Franklin,  was  ever  so 
caressed  before.  The  gentleness  and  refinement  of  French  man- 
ners possessed  great  charms  for  one  of  his  delicate  and  sensitive 
nature.  "  Here,"  he  wrote,  "  it  seems  that  a  man  might  pass  his 
life  without  encountering  a  single  rudeness." 

15 


114  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Still  he  was  very  much  opposed  to  Americans  going  to  Europe 
for  an  education.  He  said  that  they  were  in  danger  of  acquiring 
a  fondness  for  European  luxury  and  dissipation,  and  would  look 
with  contempt  upon  the  simplicity  of  their  own  country ;  that 
they  would  be  fascinated  by  the  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  aris- 
tocracy ;  that  they  would  lose  that  perfect  command  of  their  own 
language  which  can  never  be  acquired  if  neglected  during  the 
period  between  fifteen  and  twenty  years  of  age.  "  It  appears  to 
me,  then,"  he  says,  "  that  an  American  coming  to  Euroj)e  for  edu- 
cation loses  in  his  knowledge,  in  his  morals,  in  his  health,  in  his 
habits,  and  in  his  happiness." 

Mr.  Jeflerson  occupied  in  Paris  a  very  fine  house  on  the  Champs 
Elysees ;  he  had  also  taken  some  rooms  in  the  Carthusian  monas- 
tery, on  Mount  Calvary.  When  business  pressed  him,  he  would 
retire,  and  bury  himself  for  a  time  in  the  unbroken  solitude  of 
this  retreat.  He  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  degradation  and 
oppression  of  the  great  mass  of  the  French  people ;  and  his 
detestation  i^f  the  execrable  government  under  which  France 
groaned  increased  every  day.  As  he  pondered  the  misery  into 
which  twenty  millions  of  people  were  plunged  through  that  terri- 
ble despotism  which  had  been  the  slow  growth  of  ages,  and  which 
placed  all  the  wealth,  honor,  and  power  of  the  realm  in  the  hands 
of  a  few  noble  families,  he  often  expressed  the  conviction,  which 
was  ever  after  the  first  article  in  his  political  creed,  that  our  lib- 
erties could  never  be  safe  unless  they  were  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  those  people  were  well  edu- 
cated. 

In  France,  he  found  universally  kind  and  respectful  feelings 
towards  our  country.  The  philosophers  and  all  the  thinkers  were 
charmed  with  the  new  era  of  republican  liberty  which  we  had 
introduced ;  and  even  the  court,  gratified  that  we  had  been  the 
instrument  of  humbling  the  intolerable  arrogance  of  Great  Britain, 
was  ever  ready  to  greet  with  words  of  most  cordial  welcome 
the  representatives  of  the  United  States.  There  never  has  been 
a  story  more  falsely  told,  never  a  perversion  of  history  more 
thorough,  than  the  usual  representations  which  have  been  made 
of  the  French  Revolution,  —  the  most  sublime  conflict,  the  most 
wonderful  tragedy,  of  all  the  ages.  The  combined  despotic  courts 
of  Europe  endeavored  to  crush  the  people  in  their  despairing 
struggle  to  shake  off  the  fetters  which  had  eaten  through  the 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  115 

flesh  to  the  bone ;  and  then,  having  fastened  the  fetters  on  again 
and  riveted  them  anew,  the  hireling  advocates  of  these  despotisms 
gave  their  own  base  version  of  the  story  to  the  world. 

In  the  despairing  hours  of  this  conflict,  the  French  people  weie 
at  times  driven  to  such  frenzy  as  to  lose  all  self-control.  The 
spirit  with  which  they  were  assailed  maddened  them.  "Kings 
and  queens,"  wrote  an  Austrian  princess,  "  should  no  more  heed 
the  clamors  of  the  people  than  the  moon  heeds  the  barking  of 
dogs."  The  sympathies  of  Jefferson  were  always  with  the  people 
struggling  for  popular  rights ;  never  with  those  struggling  to 
crush  those  rights.  In  March,  1786,  he  went  to  London  with  Mr. 
Adams  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce.  His  sensitive  nature 
keenly  felt  the  insulting  coldness  of  his  reception.  "  On  my  pres- 
entation as  usual  to  the  king  and  queen,"  he  writes,  "  it  was  im- 
possible for  any  thing  to  be  more  ungracious  than  their  notice  of 
Mr.  Adams  and  myself."  Speaking  of  the  delicacy  of  his  mental 
organization,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Coles  of  Philadelphia,  a  life-long  friend 
of  Jefferson,  writes,  "  He  not  only  could  never  enter  on  any  free- 
dom in  manners  or  conversation  himself,  but  any  approach  to  a 
broad  one  in  his  presence  made  him  literally  blush  like  a  boy." 

His  sympathies  with  France  were  increased  by  the  conviction, 
which  he  never  hesitated  to  avow,  that,  but  for  the  aid  which  wo 
derived  from  that  country,  we  never  could  have  gained  our  inde- 
pendence. In  a  letter  written  about  this  time,  he  gives  the  fol- 
lowing as  his  estimate  of  the  character  of  his  illustrious  colleague, 
John  Adams :  — 

"  You  know  the  opinion  I  formerly  entertained  of  my  friend 
Mr.  Adams.  A  seven-months'  intimacy  with  him  here,  and  as 
many  weeks  in  London,  have  given  me  opportunities  of  studying 
him  closely.  He  is  vain,  irritable,  and  a  bad  calculator  of  the 
force  and  probable  effect  of  the  motives  which  govern  men.  This 
is  all  the  ill  which  can  possibly  be  said  of  him.  He  is  as  disinter- 
ested as  the  Being  who  made  him.  He  is  profound  in  his  views, 
and  accurate  in  his  judgment,  except  where  knowledge  of  the 
world  is  necessary  to  found  judgment.  He  is  so  amiable,  that  I 
pronounce  you  will  love  him  if  ever  you  become  acquainted  with 
him.     He  would  be,  as  he  was,  a  great  man  in  Congress." 

Jefferson  was  present  at  the  opening  of  the  Assembly  of  Nota- 
bles, at  Versailles,  on  the  22d  of  February,  1787.  Soon  after,  he 
wrote  to  Lafayette,  "  Keeping  the  good  model  of  your  neighbor- 


116  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

ing  country  before  your  eyes,  you  may  yet  get  on,  step  by  step, 
towards  a  good  constitution.  Though  that  model  is  not  perfect, 
as  it  would  unite  more  suffrages  than  any  new  one  which  could 
be  proposed,  it  is  better  to  make  that  the  object.  If  every  ad- 
vance is  to  be  purchased  by  filling  the  royal  coffers  with  gold,  it 
will  be  gold  well  employed." 

This  was  the  plan  of  Lafayette  and  his  coadjutors  to  establish 
popular  rights  in  France  under  a  monarchy  framed  on  the  model 
of  the  British  Constitution.  Jefi'erson  agreed  with  these  men  in 
their  wish  to  maintain  the  monarchical  form  of  government,  as  the 
best  for  them.  But  he  would  surround  it  with  republican  institu- 
tions. He  had  great  influence  with  all  the  patriot  leaders,  and  was 
frequently  consulted  by  them  in  their  most  important  measures. 
While  engaged  in  these  matters  of  national  interest,  he  wrote  to 
his  daughters,  and  watched  over  them  with  truly  feminine  tender- 
ness. He  was  a  mother  as  well  as  a  father  to  them.  His  letters 
were  filled  with  afiection,  and  entered  into  the  most  minute  details 
of  the  practical  rules  of  life.  To  his  daughter,  who  wished  to 
incur  some  slight  debt,  he  wrote, — 

"  This  is  a  departure  from  that  rule  which  I  wish  to  see  you 
governed  by  through  your  whole  life, — of  never  buying  any  thing 
which  you  have  not  money  in  your  pocket  to  pay  for.  Be  assured 
that  it  gives  much  more  pain  to  the  mind  to  be  in  debt,  than  to  do 
without  any  article  whatever  which  we  may  seem  to  want." 

It  is  the  concurrent  testimony  of  bis  children  and  grandchil- 
dren, that,  in  all  his  domestic  relations,  he  was  one  of  the  most 
amiable  of  men;  never  speaking  a  harsh  word,  never  manifesting 
sulleuuess  or  anger  or  irritation.  His  daughter  Martha,  one  of  the 
•most  accomplished  of  ladies,  writes,  '•'  Never,  never  did  I  witness  a 
particle  of  injustice  in  my  father.  Never  have  I  heard  him  say 
a  word,  or  seen  him  do  an  act,  which  I,  at  the  time  or  afterwards, 
regretted.  We  venerated  him  as  something  wiser  and  better  than 
other  men.  He  seemed  to  know  every  thing,  —  even  the  thoughts 
of  our  minds,  and  all  our  untold  wishes.  We  wondered  that  we 
did  not  fear  him ;  and  yet  we  did  not,  any  more  than  we  did  com- 
panions of  our  own  age."  In  all  their  joys,  in  all  their  griefs, 
these  motherless  girls  ran  to  their  father.  Never  was  there  a 
more  beautiful  exhibition  of  the  parental  tie. 

All  the  honors  which  Mr.  Jefferson  received  seemed  to  produce 
no  change  in  the  simplicity  of  his  republican  tastes.  To  one  of 
the  friends  of  his  early  years  he  wrote  at  this  time,  — 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  117 

"  There  are  minds  which  can  be  pleased  by  honors  and  prefer- 
ments ;  but  I  see  nothing  in  them  but  envy  and  enmity.  It  is 
only  necessary  to  possess  them  to  know  how  little  they  contribute 
to  happiness,  or  rather  how  hostile  they  are  to  it.  I  had  rather  be 
shut  up  in  a  very  modest  cottage  with  my  books,  my  family,  and 
a  few  old  friends,  dining  on  simple  bacon,  and  letting  the  world 
roll  on  as  it  liked,  than  to  occupy  the  most  splendid  post  which 
any  human  power  can  give." 

And  now  the  king's  troops,  with  clattering  cavalry  and  lumber- 
ing artillery,  came  pouring  into  the  streets  of  Paris  to  crush  the 
patriots.  No  reform  was  to  be  permitted,  no  constitution  to  be 
allowed.  The  cry  of  perishing  millions,  ragged,  starving,  was  to 
be  answered  with  the  sword,  the  musket,  and  the  cannon.  Mr. 
Jefferson,  in  his  carriage,  chanced  to  witness  the  first  collision 
between  the  royal  troops  and  the  people  in  the  Place  of  Louis 
XV.  It  is  difficult  to  turn  away,  from  the  sublime  and  tremendous 
scenes  which  now  ensued ;  but  this  brief  sketch  compels  us  to 
omit  them  all.  The  demolition  of  the  Bastille  ;  the  rush  of  Paris 
upon  Versailles ;  the  capture  of  the  king  and  queen,  and  their 
transportation  to  the  Tuileries  ;  the  attempted  flight,  arrest, 
trial,  imprisonment,  execution,  —  where  is  there  to  be  found 
another  such  drama  in  the  annals  of  time  ?  Jefi'ersou  thought, 
that,  could  the  weak  but  kind-hearted  king  have  been  left  to  him- 
self, he  would  in  good  faith  have  accepted  and  carried  out  the 
contemplated  reforms. 

Amidst  these  stormy  scenes,  the  National  Assembly  conferred 
the  unprecedented  compliment  upon  Mr.  Jefferson  of  inviting  him 
to  attend  and  assist  in  their  deliberations ;  but  he  felt  constrained 
to  decline  the  honor,  as  his  sense  of  delicacy  would  not  allow 
him  to  take  such  a  part  in  the  internal  transactions  of  a  country  to 
whose  court  he  was  a  recognized  ambassador.  One  day  he  re- 
ceived a  note  from  Lafayette,  informing  him  that  he  should  bring 
a  party  of  six  or  eight  friends  to  ask  a  dinner  of  him  the  next 
day.  They  came,  —  Lafayette,  and  seven  of  the  leading  patriots, 
the  representatives  of  different  parties  in  the  Assembly.  The 
cloth  being  removed,  after  dinner,  Lafayette  introduced  the  object 
of  the  meeting,  remarking  that  it  was  necessary  to  combine  their 
energies,  or  all  was  lost.  The  conference  continued  for  six  hours, 
—  from  four  in  the  afternoon  until  ten  at  night:  "During  which 
time,"  writes  Jefferson,  "  I  was  a  silent  witness  to  a  coolness  and 


118  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

candor  of  argument  unusual  in  the  conflicts  of  political  opinion; 
to  a  logical  reasoning  and  chaste  eloquence,  disfigured  by  no 
gaudy  tinsel  of  rhetoric  or  declamation,  and  truly  worthy  of  being 
placed  in  parallel  with  the  finest  dialogues  of  antiquity  as  handed 
to  us  by  Xenophon,  by  Plato  and  Cicero."  They  agreed  upon  a 
single  legislature,  giving  the  king  a  veto. 

Mr.  Jeflferson,  considering  his  relation  to  the  court,  was  placed 
in  a  very  embarrassing  situation  in  having  such  a  conference  thus 
held  at  his  house.  With  his  characteristic  frankness,  he  promptly 
decided  what  to  do.  The  next  morning,  he  waited  on  Count 
Montmorin,  the  minister  of  the  king,  and  explained  to  him  just 
how  it  had  happened.  The  minister  very  courteously  replied, 
that  he  already  knew  every  thing  that  had  passed ;  and  that, 
instead  of  taking  umbrage  at  the  use  thus  made  of  his  house,  he 
would  be  glad  to  have  Mr.  Jefferson  assist  at  all  such  conferences, 
being  sure  that  his  influence  would  tend  to  moderate  the  warmer 
spirits,  and  to  promote  only  salutary  reform. 

Soon  after  this,  Mr.  Jefferson  returned  to  America.  As  we  have 
mentioned,  his  departed  wife  had  been  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  Her  eldest  daughter,  Martha,  had  all  her  moral  and  re- 
ligious feelings  educated  in  that  direction.  Her  father  never 
uttered  a  word  to  lead  his  children  to  suppose  that  he  had  any 
doubts  respecting  Christianity.  He  attended  the  Episcopal  Church 
with  them,  and  devoutly  took  part  in  the  responses.  In  France, 
Mr.  Jefferson  had  placed  his  daughters  at  school  in  a  convent. 
Martha,  a  serious,  thoughtful,  reverential  girl,  of  fine  mind  and 
heart,  became  very  deeply  impressed  with  the  seclusion,  the  de- 
votion, the  serene  life,  of  Panthemont.  Having  one  of  those 
sensitive  natures  peculiarly  susceptible  to  such  influences,  and 
dreaming  of  finding  freedom  in  the  cell  of  the  nun  from  the  frivoli- 
ties, turmoil,  and  temptations  of  life,  she  wrote  to  her  father  for 
permission  to  remain  in  the  convent,  and  to  dedicate  herself  to 
the  duties  of  a  religious  life. 

A  few  days  passed,  and  there  was  no  answer.  Then  her  fa- 
ther's carriage  rolled  up  to  the  door  of  the  convent.  Martha,  trem- 
bling, and  with  palpitating  heart,  advanced  to  meet  him.  He 
greeted  her  with  almost  more  than  his  wonted  cordiality  and 
afiection,  held  a  short  private  interview  with  the  abbess,  and  in- 
formed his  daughters  that  he  had  come  to  take  them  away.  The 
carriage  rolled  from  the  door,  and  their  days  in  the  convent  were 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  119 

ended.  Martha,  tall,  graceful,  beautiful,  accomplished,  was  intro- 
duced to  society,  and  became  the  ornament  of  her  father's  saloons ; 
and  never  was  there  the  slightest  allusion  made,  by  word  or  letter, 
to  her  desire  to  enter  the  convent.  In  after-years,  she  spoke,  with 
a  heart  full  of  gratitude,  of  her  father's  judicious  course  on  the 
occasion.  Her  wish  was  not  a  deep  religious  conviction :  it  was 
merely  the  transient  emotion  of  a  romantic  girl. 

This  was  in  April,  1789.  Jefferson  had  not  expected  to  remain 
so  long  in  Europe.  He  was  now  anxious  to  return  with  his 
daughters  to  his  own  country.  We  have  spoken  of  the  two  par- 
ties then  rising  in  the  United  States,  one  of  which  would  rather 
favor  England  in  commercial  and  legislative  policy :  the  other 
would  favor  France.  John  Adams  was  a  distinguished  represen- 
tative of  the  English  party.  He  scouted  the  idea  that  we  owed 
any  gratitude  to  France  for  her  intervention  in  our  behalf  Jef- 
ferson was  prominently  of  the  French  party.  In  the  following 
terms  he  expresses  his  views  upon  this  subject,  in  a  letter  to  Mr. 
James  Madison.  Speaking  of  the  National  Assembly  in  France, 
he  says,  — 

"  It  is  impossible  to  desire  better  dispositions  toward  us  than 
prevail  in  this  Assembly.  Our  proceedings  have  been  viewed  as 
a  model  for  them  on  every  occasion.  I  am  sorry,  that,  in  the  mo- 
ment of  such  a  disposition,  any  thing  should  come  from  us  to  check 
it.  The  placing  them  on  a  mere  footing  with  the  English  will 
have  this  effect.  When,  of  two  nations,  tlie  one  has  engaged  her- 
self in  a  ruinous  war  for  us ;  has  spent  her  blood  and  money  to 
save  us;  has  opened  her  bosom  to  us  in  peace,  and  received  us 
almost  on  the  footing  of  her  own  citizens ;  while  the  other  has 
moved  heaven,  earth,  and  hell,  to  exterminate  us  in  war ;  has  in- 
sulted us  in  all  her  councils  in  peace ;  shut  her  doors  to  us  in 
every  port  where  her  interests  would  permit  it ;  libelled  us  in  for- 
eign nations ;  endeavored  to  poison  them  against  the  reception  of 
our  most  precious  commodities,  —  to  place  these  two  nations  on  a 
footing  is  to  give  a  great  deal  more  to  one  than  to  the  other,  if 
the  maxim  be  true,  that,  to  make  unequal  quantities  equal,  you 
must  add  more  to  one  than  to  the  other." 

Having  obtained  leave  of  absence,  Jefferson  left  Paris,  to  re- 
turn to  America,  on  the  23d  of  September,  1789.  His  numerous 
friends  gathered  around  him  on  his  departure,  with  the  warmest 
demonstrations  of  admiration  and  love.     It  was  supposed  that  he 


L 


120 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


was  leaving  but  for  a  short  visit  home.  Had  it  been  known  that 
his  departure  was  to  be  final,  his  unbounded  popularity  would 
have  conferred  upon  him  no  less  imposing  demonstrations  than 
those  which  had  been  lavished  upon  Benjamin  Franklin." 

After  the  usual  vicissitudes  of  a  sea-voyage,  Mr.  Jefferson  and 
his  daughters  landed  at  Norfolk  in  December.  There  were  no 
stages  there  in  those  days.  They  set  out  in  a  private  carriage, 
borrowing  horses  of  their  friends,  for  Monticello ;  which  they 
reached  on  the  23d  of  December.  They  loitered  on  the  w^ay, 
making  several  friendly  visits.  Two  or  three  days  before  reach- 
ing home,  Mr.  Jefferson  sent  an  express  to  his  overseer  to  have 
his  house  made  ready  for  his  reception.  The  news  spread  like 
wildfire  through  the  negro-huts,  clustered  at  several  points  over 
the  immense  plantation.  The  slaves  begged  for  a  holiday  to  re- 
ceive their  master.  The  whole  number,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, at  an  early  hour,  dressed  in  their  best,  were  straggling  along 
towards  the  foot  of  the  mountain  to  meet  the  carriage  about  two 
miles  from  the  mansion. 


JEFFERSu.N  .- 


^''^^K^ 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  121 

After  waiting  several  hours,  a  coach,  drawn  by  four  horses,  was 
seen  approaching.  The  negroes  raised  a  shout,  and  in  a  moment 
were  surrounding  the  carriage.  In  spite  of  the  entreaties  of  their 
master, —  probably  not  very  earnestly  given, —  they  detached  the 
horses,  and,  some  dragging,  some  pushing,  and  all  shouting  at 
the  top  of  their  lungs,  whirled  the  coach  along  until  they  reached 
the  lawn  in  front  of  the  house.  As,  in  the  midst  of  the  wild  uproar, 
Mr.  Jefferson  stepped  from  the  carriage,  a  network  of  black, 
sinewy  arms  grasped  him;  and,  with  resounding  triumph,  he  was 
borne  up  the  steps  and  into  his  home. 

With  instinctive  delicacy,  "  the  crowd  then  respectfully  broke 
apart  for  the  young  ladies ;  and  as  the  stately,  graceful  Martha, 
and  the  little  fairy-like  Maria,  advanced  between  the  dark  lines, 
shouts  rent  the  sky,  and  many  a  curly-headed  urchin  was  held 
aloijt  to  catch  a  look  at  what  their  mothers  and  sisters  were 
already  firmly  persuaded  could  not  be  paralleled  in  the  Ancient 
Dominion." 

Mr.  Jefferson  was,  from  beginning  to  end,  an  ardent  admirer 
and  warm  supporter  of  Washington ;  and  the  esteem  was  recipro- 
cal. Immediately  upon  his  return  from  France,  Washington  wrote 
to  him  in  the  most  flattering  terms,  urging  upon  him  a  seat  in  his 
cabinet  as  Secretary  of  State.  After  some  conference,  he  ac- 
cepted the  appointment.  Martha,  having  forgotten  her  disposi- 
tion to  be  a  nun,  was  married  on  the  23d  of  February,  1790,  to  a 
very  splendid  young  man,  —  Col.  Thomas  M.  Randolph.  A  few 
days  after  the  wedding,  on  the  1st  of  March,  Mr.  Jefferson  set  out  for 
New  York,  which  was  then  the  seat  of  government.  He  went 
by  way  of  Richmond  and  Alexandria.  The  roads  were  horrible. 
At  the  latter  place  he  took  a  stage,  sending  his  carriage  round 
by  water,  and  leading  his  horses.  Through  snow  and  mud,  their 
speed  seldom  exceeded  three  or  four  miles  an  hour  by  day,  and 
one  mile  an  hour  by  night.  A  fortnight,  of  great  fatigue,  was 
consumed  in  the  journey.  Occasionally,  Jefferson  relieved  the 
monotony,  of  the  dreary  ride  by  mounting  his  led  saddle-horse. 
At  Philadelphia  he  called  upon  his  friend  Benjamin  Franklin, 
then  in  his  last  illness. 

The  American  Revolution  did  not  originate  in  hostility  to  a 
monarchical  form  of  government,  but  in  resisting  the  oppres- 
Bions  which  that  government  was  inflicting  upon  the  American 
people.     Consequently,  many  persons,  who  were  most  active  in 

16 


122  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

the  Revolution,  would  have  been  very  willing  to  see  an  inde- 
pendent monarchy  established  here.  But  Mr.  Jefferson  had  seen 
so  much  of  the  pernicious  influence  of  kings  and  courts  in 
Europe,  that  he  had  become  an  intense  republican.  Upon  his 
arrival  in  New  York,  he  was  much  surprised  at  the  freedom  with 
which  many  persons  advocated  a  monarchical  government.  He 
writes,  — 

"  I  cannot  describe  the  wonder  and  mortification  with  which 
the  table-conversation  filled  me.  Politics  were  the  chief  topic; 
and  a  preference  of  a  kingly  over  a  republican  government  was 
evidently  the  favorite  sentiment.  An  apostate  I  could  not  be,  nor 
yet  a  hypocrite ;  and  I  found  myself,  for  the  most  part,  the  only 
advocate  on  the  republican  side  of  the  question,  unless  among  the 
guests  there  chanced  to  be  some  member  of  that  party  from  the 
legislative  houses." 

Washington  was  constitutionally,  and  by  all  the  habits  of  his 
life,  averse  to  extremes.  He  was  a  sincere  republican,  and,  being 
thoroughly  national  in  his  affections,  kept  as  far  as  possible  aloof 
from  parties ;  sacredly  administering  the  government  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Constitution  which  he  revered.  In  the  great  con- 
flict wljich  has  ensued,  neither  party  has  ventured  very  loudly 
to  claim  him.  It  cannot,  however,  be  denied,  that,  with  the  Feder- 
alists, he  felt  the  need  of  a  little  more  strength  in  the  National 
Government  to  meet  the  emergencies  which  the  growing  wealth, 
population,  and  power  of  the  nation  would  eventually  introduce. 
The  great  pressure  which  Adams  and  his  friends  had  foreseen 
came  when  our  civil  war  was  ushered  in.  The  government,  strug- 
gling for  very  existence,  instinctively  grasped  those  poAvers  which 
were  found  to  be  essential  to  its  preservation ;  scarcely  stopping 
to  ask  whether  the  act  were  authorized  by  the  Constitution  or 
not. 

On  the  1st  of  September,  Mr.  Jefferson  set  out  for  his  home 
in  his  private  carriage.  He  took  Mr.  Madison  with  him.  Thev 
stopped  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  spent  a  few  days  with  President 
Washington.  His  letters  to  his  daughters,  during  his  six-months' 
absence  in  New  York,  are  truly  beautiful  as  developments  of  pa- 
rental solicitude  and  love.  To  Maria  he  writes,  who  was  then  but 
twelve  years  of  age,  — 

"  Tell  me  whether  you  see  the  sun  rise  every  day ;  how  many 
pages  a  day  you  read  in  '  Don  Quixote,'  —  how  far  you  are  ad- 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  123 

vanced  in  him ;  whether  you  repeat  a  grammar-lesson  every  day ; 
what  else  you  read ;  how  many  hours  a  day  you  sew ;  whether 
you  have  an  opportunity  of  continuing  your  music ;  whether  you 
know  how  to  make  a  pudding  yet,  to  cut  out  a  beef-steak,  to  sow 
spinach,  or  to  set  a  hen.  Be  good,  my  dear,  as  I  have  always 
found  you  ;  never  be  angry  with  anybody,  nor  speak  hard  of  them; 
try  to  let  everybody's  faults  be  forgotten,  as  you  would  wish  yours 
to  be ;  take  more  pleasure  in  giving  what  is  best  to  another  than 
in  having  it  yourself;  and  then  all  the  world  will  love  you,  and  I 
more  than  all  the  world.  If  your  sister  is  with  you,  kiss  her,  and 
tell  her  how  much  I  love  her  also." 

Mr.  Jefferson  remained  at  Monticello,  in  a  delighted  re-union 
with  his  loved  and  loving  children,  until  the  8th  of  November, 
when  his  official  duties  called  him  back  to  New  York.  Mr.  Madi- 
son again  took  a  seat  in  his  carriage,  and  again  they  paid  the 
President  a  short  visit  at  Mount  Vernon. 

John  Adams  was  then  Vice-President ;  Alexander  Hamilton, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The  favorable  opinion  which  both 
these  illustrious  men  entertained  of  the  English  Constitution  was 
well  known.  Mr.  Jefferson  states,  that  at  a  small  dinner-party 
which  he  gave  early  in  1791,  both  Adams  and  Hamilton  being 
present,  Mr.  Adams  said,  spe.aking  of  the  British  Constitution, 
"  Purge  that  constitution  of  its  corruption,  and  give  to  its  popu- 
lar branch  equality  of  representation,  and  it  will  be  the  most  per- 
fect constitution  ever  devised  by  the  wit  of  man."  Mr.  Hamilton, 
after  a  moment's  pause,  said,  "  Purge  it  of  its  corruption,  and  give 
to  its  popular  branch  equality  of  representation,  and  it  will  become 
an  impracticable  government.  As  it  stands  at  present,  with  all  its 
supposed  defects,  it  is  the  most  perfect  government  which  ever 
existed."  —  "  This,"  says  Mr.  Jefferson,  "  was  assuredly  the  exact 
line  which  separated  the  political  creeds  of  these  two  gentlemen. 
The  one  was  for  two  hereditary  branches,  and  an  honest  elective 
one  ;  the  other,  for  an  hereditary  king,  with  a  house  of  lords  and 
commons  corrupted  to  his  will,  and  standing  between  him  and  the 
people." 

In  the  later  years  of  his  life,  Mr.  Jefferson  gave  it  as  his  opin- 
ion, that,  though  Mr.  Adams  had  been  originally  a  republican,  the 
glare  of  royalty  and  nobility  which  he  had  witnessed  in  England 
had  made  him  believe  their  fascination  a  necessary  ingredient  in 
government.     To  throw  light  upon  the  political  rupture  which 


124  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

subsequently  took  place  between  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Adams, 
the  following  extract  from  one  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  letters,  under 
date  of  May  8,  1791,  will  be  read  with  interest:  — 

"  I  am  afraid  the  indiscretion  of  a  printer  has  committed  me 
with  my  friend  Mr.  Adams,  for  whom,  as  one  of  the  most  honest 
and  disinterested  men  alive,  I  have  a  cordial  esteem,  increased  by 
long  habits  of  concurrence  of  opinion  in  the  days  of  his  republi- 
canism ;  and,  even  since  his  apostasy  to  hereditary  monarchy  and 
nobility,  we  differ  as  friends  should  do." 

Two  months  after  this,  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  a  very  friendly  let- 
ter to  Mr.  Adams,  in  which  he  alludes  to  the  difference  which  he 
supposed  existed  between  them  in  reference  to  government.  As- 
suming that  both  of  these  illustrious  men  were  perfectly  frank  and 
honest,  knowing  that  they  were  most  intimately  acquainted  with 
each  other,  and  had  been  so  for  years,  discussing  publicly  and 
privately,  on  the  floor  of  Congress  and  in  committees,  every  con- 
ceivable point  of  national  polity,  and  remembering  that  the  slight 
estrangement  which  had  now  arisen  originated  in  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Adams  had  published  a  pamphlet  expressing  political  views  which 
Mr.  Jefferson  deemed  so  erroneous,  that  he  wished  to  have  an  Eng- 
lish pamphlet,  written  by  Thomas  Paine,  republished  as  an  answer 
to  them,  we  read  with  no  little  surprise  Mr.  Adams's  reply,  in 
which  he  says, — 

"  You  observe,  '  That  you  and  I  differ  in  our  ideas  of  the  best 
form  of  government  is  well  known  to  us  both.'  But,  my  dear  sir, 
you  will  give  me  leave  to  say  that  I  do  not  know  this.  I  know 
not  what  your  idea  is  of  the  best  form  of  government.  You  and 
I  have  never  had  a  serious  conversation  together,  that  I  can  recol- 
lect, concerning  the  nature  of  government.  The  very  transient 
hints  that  have  ever  passed  between  us  have  been  jocular  and  su- 
perficial, without  ever  coming  to  an  explanation.  If  you  suppose 
that  I  have,  or  ever  had,  a  design  or  desire  of  attempting  to  intro- 
duce a  government  of  king,  lords,  and  commons,  or,  in  other 
words,  an  hereditary  executive  or  an  hereditary  senate,  either  into 
the  government  of  the  United  States  or  that  of  any  individual 
State,  you  are  wholly  mistaken." 

In  pondering  this  remarkable  statement,  there  is  a  possible  solu- 
tion of  its  apparent  difficulty  in  the  supposition,  that  while  Mr. 
Adams  considered  the  British  Constitution,  if  purged  as  he  had 
proposed,  the  best  that  had  ever  existed,  he  had  still  no  idea 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  125 

whatever  of  attempting  to  make  our  Constitution  give  place  to 
it.  It  has  also  been  suggested,  that,  from  the  peculiarity  of  Mr. 
Adams's  mind,  he  did  not  regard  any  thing  in  the  light  of  political 
disquisition  which  did  not  embrace  at  least  a  folio  or  two. 

The  flame  of  partisan  feeling  began  now  to  burn  more  and  more 
intensely  throughout  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  United 
States.  Lafayette,  in  France,  was  then  at  the  head  of  the  patriot 
army  struggling  against  the  despotisms  of  Europe,  with  the  hope, 
daily  becoming  more  faint,  of  establishing  popular  rights  in  his 
native  land.  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  him  under  date  of  June  16, 
1792,- 

"  Behold  you,  then,  my  dear  friend,  at  the  head  of  a  great  army, 
establishing  the  liberties  of  your  country  against  a  foreign  enemy. 
May  Heaven  favor  your  cause,  and  make  you  the  channel  through 
which  it  may  pour  its  favors  !  While  you  are  extirpating  the  mon- 
ster aristocracy,  and  pulling  out  the  teeth  and  fangs  of  its  asso- 
ciate monarchy,  a  contrary  tendency  is  discovered  in  some  here. 
A  sect  has  shown  itself  among  us,  who  declare  that  they  espoused 
our  new  Constitution,  not  as  a  good  and  suflScient  thing  in  itself, 
but  only  as  a  step  to  an  English  Constitution,  —  the  only  thing 
good  and  sufficient  in  itself  in  their  eyes.  It  is  happy  for  us  that 
these  are  preachers  without  followers,  and  that  our  people  are 
firm  and  constant  in  their  republican  purity.  You  will  wonder  to 
be  told  that  it  is  from  the  eastward  chiefly  that  these  champions 
for  a  king,  lords,  and  commons,  come." 

President  Washington  watched  with  great  anxiety  the  rising 
storm,  and  did  all  he  could  to  quell  its  fury.  His  cabinet  was 
divided.  Gen.  Hamilton,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was  leader 
of  the  so-called  Federal  party.  Mr.  Jefferson,  Secretary  of  State, 
was  leader  of  the  Republican  party.  On  the  30th  of  September, 
1792,  as  he  was  going  from  Monticello  to  the  seat  of  government, 
he  stopped,  as  usual,  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  spent  a  night  with 
President  Washington.  Mr.  Jefferson  makes  the  following  record 
in  his  note-book  of  this  interview,  which  shows  conclusively  that 
President  Washington  did  not  agree  with  Mr.  Jefferson  in  his 
belief  that  there  was  a  strong  monarchical  party  in  this  coun- 
try:  — 

"  The  President,"  he  writes,  "  expressed  his  concern  at  the  dif- 
ferences which  he  found  to  subsist  between  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  and  myself,  of  which,  he  said,  he  had  not  been  aware. 


126  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS.  ^ 

He  knew,  indeed,  that  there  was  a  marked  difference  in  our  politi- 
cal sentiments ;  but  he  had  never  suspected  it  had  gone  so  far  in 
producing  a  personal  difference,  and  he  wished  he  could  be  the 
mediator  to  put  an  end  to  it;  that  he  thought  it  important  to 
preserve  the  c"heck  of  my  opinions  in  the  administration,  in  order 
to  keep  things  in  their  proper  channel,  and  prevent  them  from 
going  too  far ;  that,  as  to  the  idea  of  transforming  this  government 
into  a  monarchy,  he  did  not  believe  there  were  ten  men  in  the  United 
States,  lohose  opinions  were  worth  attention,  who  entertained  such  a 
thought." 

Some  important  financial  measures  which  were  proposed  by  Mr. 
Hamilton,  Mr.  Jefferson  violently  opposed.  They  were,  however, 
sustained  by  the  cabinet,  adopted  by  both  houses  of  the  legisla- 
ture, and  approved  by  the  President.  The  enemies  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son now  pressed  him  with  the  charge  of  indelicacy  in  holding 
office  under  a  government  whose  leading  measures  he  opposed. 
Bitter  was  the  warfare  waged  between  the  two  hostile  secreta- 
ries. We  now  and  then  catch  a  glimpse  of  Washington  in  this 
bitter  strife,  endeavoring,  like  an  angel  of  peace,  to  lay  the  storm. 
Hamilton  accused  Jefferson  of  lauding  the  Constitution  in  public, 
while  in  private  he  had  admitted  that  it  contained  those  imperfec- 
tions of  loant  of  poiver  which  Hamilton  laid  to  its  charge.  This 
accusation  was  so  seriously  made,  that  Mr.  Jefferson  sent  a  docu- 
ment to  the  President  to  disprove  it,  containing  numerous  extracts 
from  his  private  and  confidential  correspondence.  The  President 
replied,  under  date  of  Oct.  18,  1792, — 

"  I  did  not  require  the  evidence  of  the  extracts  which  you  en- 
closed to  me  to  convince  me  of  your  attachment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  or  your  disposition  to  promote  the 
general  welfare  of  this  country  :  but  I  regret,  deeply  regret,  the 
difference  in  opinions  which  has  arisen,  and  divided  you  and 
another  principal  officer  of  the  Government;  and  I  wish  devoutly 
there  could  be  an  accommodation  of  them  by  mutual  yieldings. 
I  will  frankly  and  solemnly  declare,  that  I  believe  the  views  of 
both  of  you  to  be  pure  and  well  meant,  and  that  experience  only 
will  decide  with  respect  to  the  salutariness  of  the  measures  which 
are  the  subjects  of  dispute.  I  am  persuaded  that  there  is  no  dis- 
cordance in  your  views.  I  have  a  great,  a  sincere  esteem  and 
regard  for  you  both,  and  ardently  wish  that  some  line  could  be 
marked  out  by  which  both  of  you  could  walk." 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON:  127 

The  President  seems  to  have  been  in  accord  with  "Mr.  Jefferson 
in  his  views  of  the  importance  of  maintaining  cordial  relations 
with  France.  Both  England  and  Spain  were  then  making  en- 
croachments upon  us,  very  menacing  in  their  aspect.  The  Presi- 
dent, in  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  on  the  27th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1792,  urged  the  necessity  of  making  sure  of  the  alliance  with 
France  in  the  event  of  a  rupture  with  either  of  these  powers. 
"  There  is  no  nation,"  said  he,  "  on  whom  we  can  rely  at  all  times, 
but  France."  This  had  long  been  one  of  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  Mr.  Jefferson's  policy.  Upon  the  election  of  President 
Washington  to  his  second  term  of  oflSce,  Mr.  Jefferson  Avished  to 
retire  from  the  cabinet.  Dissatisfaction  with  the  measures  of  the 
Government  was  doubtless  a  leading  cause.  At  the  earnest  solici- 
tation, however,  of  the  President,  he  consented  to  remain  in  his 
position,  which  was  daily  becoming  more  uncomfortable,  until  the 
last  of  July,  when  he  again  sent  in  his  resignation. 

But  still  again  President  Washington  so  earnestly  entreated 
him  to  remain,  that,  very  reluctantly,  he  consented  to  continue  in 
office  until  the  close  of  the  year.  In  the  following  extracts  from 
a  letter  to  James  Madison,  it  will  be  seen  how  irksome  the  duties 
of  his  office  had  become  to  him :  — 

"  I  have  now  been  in  the  public  service  four  and  twenty  years  ; 
one-half  of  which  has  been  spent  in  total  occupation  with  their 
affairs,  and  absence  from  my  own.  I  have  served  my  tour,  then. 
The  motion  of  my  blood  no  longer  keeps  time  with  the  tumult  of 
the  world.  It  leads  me  to  seek  happiness  in  the  lap  and  love  of 
my  family ;  in  the  society  of  my  neighbors  and  my  books ;  in  the 
wholesome  occupation  of  my  farm  and  my  affairs;  in  an  interest 
or  affection  in  every  bud  that  opens,  in  every  breath  that  blows 
around  me;  in  an  entire  freedom  of  rest,  of  motion,  of  thought; 
owing  account  to  myself  alone  of  my  hours  and  actions. 

''  What  must  be  the  principle  of  that  calculation  which  should 
balance  against  these  the  circumstances  of  my  present  existence': 
—  worn  down  with  labors  from  morning  to  night,  and  day  to  day; 
knowing  them  as  fruitless  to  others  as  they  are  vexatious  to  my- 
self; committed  singly  in  desperate  and  eternal  contest  against  a 
host,  who  are  systematically  undermining  the  public  liberty  and 
prosperity;  even  the  rare  hours  of  relaxation  sacrificed  to  the 
society  of  persons  in  the  same  intentions,  of  whose  hatred  I  am 
conscious,  even  in  those  moments  of  conviviality  when  the  heart 


128  LIVES   OF   THE  PBESIBEXTS. 

wishes  most  to  open  itself  to  the  effusions  of  friendship  and  con- 
fidence ;  cut  off  from  my  family  and  friends  ;  my  affairs  abandoned 
to  chaos  and  derangement ;  in  short,  giving  every  thing  1  love  in 
exchange  for  every  thing  I  hate ;  and  all  this  ^vithout  a  single 
gratification  in  possession  or  prospect,  in  present  enjoyment  or 
future  wish.'' 

In  the  following  terms,  the  President,  on  the  1st  of  January, 
1794:,  accepted  Mr.  Jefferson's  final  resignation:  "I  received  yes- 
terday, with  sincere  regret,  your  resignation  of  the  ofiice  of  Secre- 
tary of  State.  Since  it  has  been  impossible  to  prevail  upon  you 
to  forego  any  longer  the  indulgence  of  your  desire  for  private  life, 
the  event,  however  anxious  I  am  to  avert  it,  must  be  submitted 
to ;  but  I  cannot  suffer  you  to  leave  your  station  without  assur- 
ing you  that  the  opinion  which  I  had  formed  of  your  integrity  and 
talents,  and  which  dictated  your  original  nomination,  has  been . 
confirmed  by  the  fullest  experience,  and  that  both  have  been  emi- 
nently displayed  in  the  discharge  of  your  duty."' 

On  the  5th  of  January,  Mr.  Jefferson,  with  his  fragile,  beauti- 
ful daughter  Maria,  left  Philadelphia  for  his  loved  retreat  at  Monti- 
cello.  On  the  16th,  he  reached  home.  So  utterly  weary  was  he 
of  public  affairs,  that  he  endeavored  to  forget  them  entirely. 
Four  months  after  this,  in  May.  he  wrote  to  John  Adams,  then 
Vice-President,  "  I  do  not  take  a  single  newspaper,  nor  read 
one  a  month.  I  feel  myself  infinitely  the  happier  for  it."  His 
landed  estate  at  this  time  consisted  of  ten  thousand  six  hundred 
and  forty-seven  acres.  He  had  sold  a  considerable  portion  to  pay 
off  some  debts  with  which  his  wife's  patrimony  was  encumbered. 
His  slaves  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-four.  From  the 
lawn  at  Monticello  he  could  look  down  upon  six  thousand  of  his 
broad  acres,  spread  out  magnificently  before  him.  He  had  thirty- 
four  horses,  five  mules,  two  hundred  and  forty-nine  cattle,  three 
hundred  and  ninety  hogs.  Such  an  estate  as  this  will  not  take 
care  of  itself;  and  he  found,  through  his  long  absence  from  home, 
his  fields  exhausted,  and  his  affairs  in  confusion.  Nine  months 
passed  away  in  entire  devotion  to  the  cares  of  the  farm,  and  in 
enjoying  the  endearments  of  his  children  and  his  grandchildren. 
President  Washington  then  made  another  endeavor  to  call  him 
back  to  the  cabinet.  In  reply,  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  to  the  Secretar 
ry  of  State  through  whom  the  application  came, — 

"  No  circumstances,  my  dear  sir,  will  ever  more  tempf  me  to 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  129 

engage  in  any  thing  public.  I  thought  myself  perfectly  fixed  in 
this  determination  when  I  left  Philadelphia ;  but  every  day  and 
hour  since  has  added  to  its  inflexibility.  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to 
me  to  retain  the  esteem  and  approbation  of  the  President ;  and  this 
forms  the  only  ground  of  any  reluctance  at  being  unable  to  com- 
ply with  every  wish  of  his." 

Every  day  the  political  horizon  was  growing  more  stormy.  All 
Europe  was  in  the  blaze  of  war.  England,  the  most  powerful  mon- 
archy on  the  globe,  was  straining  every  nerve  to  crush  the  French 
Revolution.  The  haughty  course  which  the  British  Government 
pursued  towards  the  United  States  had  exasperated  even  the  pla- 
cid Washington.  He  wrote  to  Gen.  Hamilton  on  the  31st  of 
August,  1794,— 

"  By  these  high-handed  measures  of  that  government,  and  the 
outrageous  and  insulting  conduct  of  its  officers,  it  would  seem 
next  to  impossible  to  keep  peace  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain." 

Even  John  Adams  became  roused.  Two  years  after,  he  wrote, 
in  reference  to  the  cool  treatment  which  his  sou,  John  Quincy 
Adams,  had  received  in  England,  "I  am  glad  of  it;  for  I  would  not 
have  my  son  go  as  far  as  Mr.  Jay,  and  affirm  the  friendly  dispo- 
sition of  that  country  to  this.  I  know  better.  I  know  their  jeal- 
ousy, envy,  hatred,  and  revenge,  covered  under  pretended 
contempt."  Jefferson's  slumbering  energies  were  electrified :  he 
subscribed  for  a  newspaper,  wrote  fiery  letters,  and,  by  his  conver- 
sational eloquence,  moved  all  who  approached  him. 

A  new  presidential  election  came  on.  John  Adams  was  the 
Federal  candidate;  Thomas  JelFerson,  the  Republican.  It  does  not 
appear  that  Mr.  Jeflferson  was  at  all  solicitous  of  being  elected. 
Indeed,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Madison,  "  There  is  nothing  I  so  anxiously 
hope  as  that  my  name  may  come  out  either  second  or  third ;  as 
the  last  would  leave  me  at  home  the  whole  of  the  year,  and  the 
other  two-thirds  of  it."  Alluding  to  the  possibility  that  "  the  rep- 
resentatives may  be  divided,"  he  makes  the  remarkable  declara- 
tion, of  the  sincerity  of  which  no  one  who  knows  the  man  can 
doubt,  "  This  is  a  difficulty  from  which  the  Constitution  has  pro- 
vided no  issue.  It  is  both  my  duty  and  inclination,  therefore,  to 
relieve  the  embarrassment,  should  it  happen ;  and,  in  that  case,  I 
pray  you,  and  authorize  you  fully,  to  solicit  on  my  behalf  that  Mr. 
Adams  maybe  preferred.     He  has  always  been  my  senior  from  the 

17 


130  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

commencement  of  our  public  life  ;  and,  the  expression  of  the  public 
will  being  equal,  this  circumstance  ought  to  give  him  the  pref 
erence." 

As  the  result  of  the  election,  Mr.  Adams  became  President ;  and 
Mr.  Jefferson,  Vice-President.  This  rendered  it  necessary  for  him 
to  leave  Monticello  for  a  few  months  each  year  to  attend  the 
sessions  of  Congress.  His  numerous  letters  to  his  children  show 
how  weary  he  had  become  of  party  strife,  with  what  reluctance  he 
left  his  home,  with  what  joy  he  returned  to  it.  His  correspond- 
ence is  full  of  such  expressions  as  the  following :  "  I  ought  often- 
er,  my  dear  Martha,  to  receive  your  letters,  for  the  very  great 
pleasure  they  give  me,  and  especially  when  they  express  your  af- 
fection for  me ;  for  though  I  cannot  doubt,  yet  they  are  among 
those  truths,  which,  not  doubted,  we  love  to  hear  repeated.  Here, 
too,  they  serve  like  gleams  of  light  to  cheer  a  dreary  scene,  where 
envy,  hatred,  malice,  revenge,  and  all  the  worst  passions  of  men, 
are  marshalled  to  make  one  another  as  miserable  as  possible.  I 
turn  from  this  with  pleasure  to  contrast  it  with  your  fireside,  where 
the  single  evening  I  passed  at  it  was  worth  ages  here." 

Again  he  writes  to  Maria,  from  Philadelphia,  on  the  1st  of 
January,  1797,  "  Without  an  object  here  which  is  not  alien  to  me, 
and  barren  of  every  delight,  I  turn  to  your  situation  with  pleasure, 
in  the  midst  of  a  good  family  which  loves  you,  and  merits  all  your 
love."  It  is  a  melancholy  reflection  that  such  enmities  should 
have  sprung  up  between  men,  and  imbittered  all  their  intercourse, 
who  were  alike  true  patriots,  who  were  sincerely  and  earnestly 
seeking  the  good  of  their  common  country,  and  who  only  differed, 
and  that  conscientiously,  respecting  the  best  measures  to  be 
adopted  for  the  national  welfare. 

In  June,  1800,  Congress  moved  from  Philadelphia  to  Washing- 
ton. The  new  seat  of  government,  literally  hewn  out  of  the  wil- 
derness, was  a  dreary  place.  Though,  for  twelve  years,  workmen 
had  been  employed  in  that  lonely,  uninhabited,  out-of-the-Avay 
spot,  in  putting  up  the  public  buildings,  there  was  nothing  as  yet 
finished :  and  vast  piles  of  stone  and  brick  and  mortar  were  scat- 
tered at  great  distances  from  each  other,  with  swamps  or  forests 
or  sand-banks  intervening.  Transient  huts  were  sprinkled  about 
for  the  workmen.  The  Capitol  was  built  on  a  large  swell  of  land ; 
and  a  mile  and  a  half  from  it  was  the  unfinished  "  President's 
House,"  with  literally  a  mud-road  between.  No  arrangements 
had  been  made  for  lodging  or  boarding  the  members  of  Congress. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  131 

Mrs.  John  Adams,  who  had  seen  the  residences  of  royalty  in  Eu- 
rope,—  Buckingham  Palace,  Versailles,  and  the  Tuileries, —  gives 
an  amusing  account  of  their  entrance  upon  the  splendors  of  the 
"  White  House."  In  trying  to  find  Washington  from  Baltimore, 
they  got  lost  in  the  woods.  After  driving  for  some  time,  bewil- 
dered in  forest  paths,  they  chanced  to  come  upon  a  black  man,  whom 
they  hired  to  guide  them  through  the  forest.  "  The  house,"  she 
writes,  "  is  upon  a  grand  and  superb  scale,  requiring  about  thirty 
servants  to  attend,  and  keep  the  apartments  in  proper  order,  and 
perform  the  necessary  business  of  the  house  and  stables.  The 
lighting  the  apartments,  from  the  kitchen  to  parlors  and  cham- 
bers, is  a  tax  indeed  ;  and  the  fires  we  are  obliged  to  keep,  to  se- 
cure us  from  daily  agues,  is  another  very  cheering  comfort.  To 
assist  us  in  this  great  castle,  and  render  less  attendance  necessa- 
ry, bells  are  wholly  wanting,  not  a  single  one  being  hung  through 
the  whole  house  ;  and  promises  are  all  you  can  obtain.  This  is  so 
great  an  inconvenience,  that  I  know  not  what  to  do  or  how  to  do. 
If  they  will  put  me  up  some  bells,  and  let  me  have  wood  enough 
to  keep  fires,  I  design  to  be  pleased.  I  could  content  myself  almost 
anywhere  three  months  ;  but,  surrounded  with  forests,  can  you  be- 
lieve that  wood  is  not  to  be  had,  because  people  cannot  be  found 
to  cut  and  cart  it  ?  " 

The  four  years  of  Mr.  Jefierson's  Vice-Presidency  passed  joy- 
lessly away,  while  the  storm  of  partisan  strife  between  Federalist 
and  Republican  was  ever  growing  hotter.  Gen.  Hamilton,  who 
was  a  great  power  in  those  days,  became  as  much  alienated  from 
Mr.  Adams  as  from  Mr.  Jefferson.  There  was  a  split  in  the  Fed- 
eral party.  A  new  presidential  election  came  on.  Mr.  Jefi"erson 
was  chosen  President ;    and  Aaron  Burr,  Vice-President. 

The  news  of  the  election  of  Jefferson  was  received  in  most  parts 
of  the  Union  with  the  liveliest  demonstrations  of  joy.  He  was 
the  leader  of  the  successful  and  rapidly  increasing  party.  His 
friends  were  found  in  every  city  and  village  in  our  land.  They 
had  been  taught  to  believe  that  the  triumph  of  the  opposite  party 
would  be  the  triumph  of  aristocratic  privilege  and  of  civil  and 
religious  despotism.  On  the  other  hand,  many  of  the  Federalists 
turned  pale  when  the  tidings  reached  them  that  Thomas  Jefferson 
was  President  of  the  United  States.  Both  the  pulpit  and  the 
press  had  taught  them  that  he  was  the  incarnation  of  all  evil,  —  an 
■infidel,  an  atheist,  a  scoffer  of  all  things  sacred,  a  Jacobin,  breath- 


135  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

ing  threatenings  and  slaughter.  There  is  no  exaggeration  in  this 
statement,  strong  as  it  is. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  Jefferson's  inaugural.  Nobler 
words  were  never  uttered  by  one  assuming  power.  That  he  was 
eincere  in  the  utterance,  and  that  the  measures  of  his  administra- 
tion were  in  conformity  with  the  principles  here  laid  down,  nearly 
every  man  will  now  admit. 

"  About  to  enter,  fellow-citizens,  on  the  exercise  of  duties 
which  comprehend  every  thing  dear  and  valuable  to  you,  it  is  pro- 
per that  you  should  understand  what  I  deem  the  essential  princi- 
ples of  our  government,  and  consequently  those  which  ought  to 
shape  its  administration.  I  will  compress  them  within  the  nar- 
rowest compass  they  will  bear,  stating  the  general  principle,  but 
not  all  its  limitations. 

"  Equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men,  of  whatever  state  or  per- 
suasion, religious  or  political ;  peace,  commerce,  and  honest  friend- 
ship with  all  nations,  entangling  alliances  with  none  ;  the  support 
of  the  State  governments  in  all  of  their  rights,  as  the  most  compe- 
tent administrations  for  our  domestic  concerns,  and  the  surest  bul- 
warks against  anti-republican  tendencies ;  the  preservation  of  the 
General  Government  in  its  whole  constitutional  vigor,  as  the  sheet- 
anchor  of  our  peace  at  home,  and  safety  abroad  ;  a  jealous  care  of 
the  right  of  election  by  the  people,  —  a  mild  and  safe  corrective  of 
abuses,  which  are  topped  by  the  sword  of  revolution  where  peace- 
able remedies  are  unprovided ;  absolute  acquiescence  in  the  de- 
cisions of  the  majority,  —  the  vital  principle  of  republics,  from  which 
there  is  no  appeal  but  to  force,  the  vital  principle  and  immediate 
parent  of  despotism ;  a  well-disciplined  militia,  —  our  best  reliance 
in  peace,  and  for  the  first  moments  of  war,  till  regulars  may  relieve 
them ;  the  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military  authority ; 
economy  in  the  public  expense,  that  labor  may  be  lightly  bur- 
dened ;  the  honest  payment  of  our  debts,  and  sacred  preservation  of 
the  public  faith  ;  encouragement  of  agriculture,  and  of  commerce 
as  its  handmaid ;  the  diffusion  of  information,  and  the  arraign- 
ment of  all  abuses  at  the  bar  of  public  reason  ;  freedom  of  religion; 
freedom  of  the  press  ;  freedom  of  person,  under  the  protection  of 
the  habeas  corpus,  and  trial  by  juries  impartially  selected,  —  these 
principles  form  the  bright  constellation  which  has  gone  before  us, 
and  guided  our  steps  through  an  age  of  revolution  and  reforma- 
tion." 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  133 

He  closes  with  the  following  words :  "  And  may  that  Infinite 
Power  which  rules  the  destinies  of  the  universe  lead  our  councils 
to  what  is  best,  and  give  them  a  favorable  issue  for  your  peace  and 
prosperity  ! " 

Jefferson  was  exceedingly  simple  in  his  taste,  having  a  morbid 
dislike  of  all  that  court  etiquette  which  had  disgusted  him  so  much 
in  Europe.  Washington  rode  to  the  halls  of  Congress  in  state, 
drawn  b}"  six  cream-colored  horses.  For  some  unexplained  reason, 
on  the  morning  of  his  inauguration,  Jefferson  rode  on  horseback 
to  the  Capitol  in  a  dress  of  plain  cloth,  without  guard  or  servant, 
dismounted  without  assistance,  and  fastened  the  bridle  of  his  horse 
to  the  fence.  This  certainly  looks  like  the  affectation  of  simplicity. 
It  may  be  suggested,  in  excuse,  that  Mr.  Jefferson  had  allowed  his 
mind  to  become  so  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  conviction  that 
our  government  was  drifting  towards  monarchy  and  aristocracy, 
that  he  felt  bound,  in  his  official  character,  to  set  the  example  of 
extreme  democratic  simplicity. 

In  this  spirit  he  abolished  levees,  which,  though  he  did  not  so 
intend  it,  was  a  movement  in  an  aristocratic  direction ;  for  the 
levee  threw  the  presidential  mansion  open  to  the  most  humble  of 
the  people.  By  its  abolition,  none  could  enter  the  White  House 
but  those  who  were  specially  invited.  The  invitations  to  dine 
were  no  longer  given  in  the  name  of  the  "  President  of  the  United 
States,"  as  Washington  and  Adams  had  given  them,  but  in  the 
name  of  '^  Thomas  Jefferson."  His  views  upon  this  subject  may 
be  inferred  from  the  following  remarks  which  he  made  upon  the 
character  of  Washington.  After  speaking  of  him  in  the  highest 
terms  of  eulogy,  as  one  of  the  greatest  and  best  men  this  world 
has  ever  known,  he  Avrites,  — 

"I  do  believe  that  Gen.  Washington  had  not  a  firm  confidence 
in  the  durability  of  our  government.  He  was  naturally  distrustful 
of  men,  and  inclined  to  gloomy  apprehensions ;  and  I  was  ever 
persuaded  that  a  belief  that  we  must  at  length  end  in  something 
like  a  British  Constitution  had  some  weight  in  his  adoption  of  the 
ceremonies  of  levees,  birthdays,  pompous  meetings  with  Congress, 
and  other  forms  of  the  same  character,  calculated  to  jDrepare  us 
gradually  for  a  change  which  he  believed  possible,  and  to  let  it 
come  on  with  as  little  shock  as  might  be  to  the  public  mind." 

Mr.  Jefferson  and  his  eldest  grandson  were  one  day  riding  in  a 
carriage  together.     They  met  a  slave,  who  respectfully  took  off 


134  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

his  hat,  and  bowed.  The  President,  according  to  his  invariable 
custom,  returned  the  salutation  bj  raising  his  hat.  The  young 
man  paid  no  attention  to  the  negro's  act  of  civility.  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, after  a  few  moments'  pause,  turned  a  reproachful  eye  to  him, 
and  said,  '•  Thomas,  do  you  permit  a  slave  to  be  more  of  a  gentle- 
man than  yourself?" 

On  another  occasion,  he  was  riding  on  horseback,  accompanied 
by  two  young  men,  from  Monticello  to  CharlottesviUe.  They 
found  Moore's  Creek  so  swollen  by  a  sudden  shower,  that  the 
water  was  up  to  the  saddle-girths.  A  man,  with  a  saddle  on  his 
shoulders,  was  standing  upon  the  bank.  He  looked  at  the  young 
men  as  they  rode  through  the  stream,  and  said  nothing;  but,  turn- 
ing to  Mr.  Jefferson,  he  asked  permission  to  mount  the  croup 
behind  him  to  be  carried  across.  The  President  reined  his  horse 
up  to  a  stone,  and  carried  the  man  across.  The  countryman  then 
dismounted,  and  trudged  along  the  dusty  road.  Soon  a  party  in 
the  rear,  who  had  witnessed  the  operation,  came  up.  One  inquired, 
"  What  made  you  let  the  young  men  pass,  and  ask  the  old  gentle- 
man to  carry  you  over  the  creek?"  The  backwoodsman  replied, 
in  the  broad  patois  of  his  region,  "  Wal,  if  you  want  to  know,  111 
tell  you.  I  reckon  a  man  carries  'Yes'  or  '  No'  in  his  face.  The 
young  chaps' faces  said  'No;'  the  old'un's, 'Yes.'"  —  "It  isn't  every 
one,"  the  other  replied,  "  that  would  have  asked  the  President  of 
the  United  States  for  a  ride  behind  him."  —  "  What,"  said  the  man, 
"  you  don't  say  that  was  Tom  Jeffers6n,  do  you?  "  Then,  pausing 
a  moment,  he  added,  "  Wal,  he's  a  fine  old  fellow,  any  way.  What 
will  Polly  say  when  I  tell  her  I  have  rid  behind  Jefferson  ?  She'll 
sa.y  I  voted  for  the  right  man." 

The  political  principles  of  the  Jeffersonian  party  now  swept  the 
country,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  swayed  an  influence  which  was  never 
exceeded  by  Washington  himself  Louisiana,  under  which  name 
was  then  included  the  whole  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  to 
the  Pacific,  was  purchased  of  France,  under  his  administration,  in 
the  year  1803,  for  fifteen  milhons  of  dollars.  He  was  now  smitten 
by  another  domestic  grief.  In  the  year  1804,  his  beautiful  daughter 
Maria,  whom  he  so  tenderly  loved,  sank  into  the  grave,  leaving 
her  babe  behind  her.  His  eldest  daughter,  Martha,  says,  speaking 
of  her  father's  suffering  under  this  terrible  grief, — 

'•'  I  found  him  with  the  Bible  in  his  hands.  He,  who  has  been 
so  often  and  so  harshly  accused  of  unbelief,  —  he,  in  his  hour  of 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  135 

intense  afBiction,  sought  and  found  consolation  in  the  sacred  vol- 
ume. The  comforter  was  there  for  his  true  heart  and  devout 
spirit,  even  though  his  faith  might  not  be  what  the  world  calls 
orthodox." 

Mr.  Jefferson  writes,  in  response  to  a  letter  of  condolence  from 
a  friend,  "  My  loss  is  great  indeed.  Others  may  lose  of  their 
abundance ;  but  I,  of  my  want,  have  lost  even  the  half  of  all  I  had. 
My  evening  prospects  now  hang  on  the  slender  thread  of  a  single 
life.  Perhaps  I  may  be  destined  to  see  even  this  last  chord  of 
parental  affection  broken.  The  hope  with  which  I  had  looked 
forward  to  the  moment,  when,  resigning  public  cares  to  younger 
hands,  I  was  to  retire  to  that  domestic  comfort  from  which  the 
last  great  step  is  to  be  taken,  is  fearfully  blighted. 

*'  We  have,  however,  the  traveller's  consolation.  Every  step 
shortens  the  distance  we  have  to  go.  The  end  of  our  journey  is 
in  sight, —  the  bed  whereon  we  are  to  rest  and  to  rise  in  the  midst 
of  the  friends  we  have  lost.  '  We  sorrow  not,  then,  as  others  v/ho 
have  no  hope,'  but  look  forward  to  the  day  which  joins  us  to  the 
great  majority.  But,  whatever  is  to  be  our  destiny,  wisdom  as 
well  as  duty  dictates  that  we  should  acquiesce  in  the  will  of  Him 
whose  it  is  to  give  and  take  away,  and  be  content  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  those  who  are  still  permitted  to  be  with  us." 

Another  presidential  election  came  in  1804.  Mr.  Jefferson  was 
re-elected  President  with  wonderful  unanimity;  and  George  Clinton, 
Vice-President.  Jefferson  was  sixty-two  years  of  age,  when,  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1805,  he  entered  upon  his  second  term  of  office. 
Our  relations  with  England  were  daily  becoming  more  compli- 
cated from  the  British  demand  of  the  right  to  stop  any  of  our 
ships,  whether  belonging  to  either  the  commercial  or  naval  marine, 
and  to  take  from  them  any  sailors  whom  they  felt  disposed  to  claim 
as  British  subjects.  The  United-States  frigate  "  Chesapeake,"  of 
thirty -eight  guns,  was  fired  upon,  on  the  22d  of  June,  1807,  by 
the  British  man-of-war  "  Leopard,"  of  iifty-six  guns ;  and  after  a 
loss  of  three  men  killed  and  ten  wounded,  including  Com.  Bar- 
ron, the  "  Chesapeake,"  which  was  not  in  a  condition  to  return  a 
single  shot,  surrendered.  Four  men  were  then  taken  by  the 
British  officer  from  the  frigate,  three  of  whom  were  Americans. 
This  outrage,  which  occurred  but  a  few  leagues  out  from  Hamp- 
ton Roads,  created  intense  excitement.  The  President  despatched 
a  vessel  to  England  to  demand  reparation  for  the  insult ;  while,  at 


136  LIVES  OF  TEE  PRESIDENTS. 

the  same  time,  he  issued  a  proclamation  forbidding  the  waters  of 
the  United  States  to  all  British  vessels  of  war  unless  in  distress 
or  bearing  despatches.  Capt.  Douglass,  who  was  at  that  time 
in  command  of  a  British  squadron  of  three  men-of-war  at  Norfolk, 
paid  no  attention  to  this  proclamation,  but  wrote  an  insolent  letter 
to  the  mayor,  saying  that  the  Americans  could  have  peace  or  war, 
just  as  they  desired.  In  a  letter  to  Lafayette  upon  this  subject, 
the  President  wrote,  — 

"  Never,  since  the  battle  of  Lexington,  have  I  seen  this  country 
in  such  a  state  of  exasperation  as  at  present ;  and  even  that  did 
not  produce  such  unanimity.  The  Federalists  themselves  coalesce 
with  us  as  to  the  object,  although  they  will  return  to  their  old 
trade  of  condemning  every  step  we  take  towards  obtaining  it." 

The  course  England  pursued  rendered  it  certain  that  war  could 
not  be  avoided.  Mr.  Jefferson  humanely  did  every  thing  in  his 
power  to  prevent  the  Indians  from  taking  any  part  in  it  whatever. 
The  British,  on  the  contrary,  were  endeavoring  to  rouse  them  to 
deluge  the  frontiers  in  blood.  England,  who  was  engaged  in 
the  endeavor  to  crush  Napoleon  and  re-instate  the  Bourbons,  had 
resolved,  at  whatever  hazard  of  war  with  America,  to  replenish 
her  navy  by  seizing  any  British-born  subjects,  wherever  she 
could  find  them  in  the  marine  of  the  United  States.  Any  young 
lieutenant,  protected  by  the  guns  of  a  British  man-of-war,  would 
step  on  board  any  of  our  ships,  and,  claiming  whoever  he  pleased 
as  British  subjects,  would  impress  them  to  fight  against  France. 
In  this  way,  according  to  the  official  returns,  more  than  twelve 
hundred  Americans  were  dragged  from  our  ships.  Strange  as  it 
may  now  seem,  the  measures  of  government  to  redress  these 
wrongs  were  virulently  opposed.  Notwithstanding  the  strength 
and  influence  of  the  opposition  to  Mr.  Jefierson's  administration, 
he  was  sustained  by  the  general  voice  of  the  nation. 

Amidst  all  these  cares,  the  President  manifested  the  most  affec- 
tionate interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  family.  On  the  24th  of  No- 
vember, 1808,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  his  grandson,  who  was  absent 
from  home  at  school,  from  which  we  make  the  following  extract :  — 

"  Your  situation  at  such  a  distance  from  us  cannot  bur,  give  us 
all  great  anxieties  for  you ;  but  thrown  on  a  wide  world,  among 
entire  strangers,  without  a  friend  or  guardian  to  advise,  so  young 
too,  and  with  so  little  experience  of  mankind,  your  dangers  are 
great,  and  still  your  safety  must  rest  on  yourself.     A  determina- 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  137 

tion  never  to  do  what  is  wrong,  prudence  and  good  humor,  will 
go  far  towards  securing  for  you  the  estimation  of  the  world. 

''  When  I  recollect  that  at  fourteen  years  of  age  the  whole  care 
and  direction  of  myself  was  thrown  on  myself  entirely,  without  a 
relation  or  friend  qualified  to  advise  or  guide  me,  and  recollect 
the  various  sorts  of  bad  company  with  which  I  associated  from 
time  to  time,  I  am  astonished  that  I  did  not  turn  off  with  some  of 
them,  and  become  as  worthless  to  society  as  they  were.  I  had  the 
good  fortune  to  become  acquainted  very  early  with  some  charac- 
ters of  very  high  standing,  and  to  feel  the  incessant  wish  that  I 
could  ever  become  what  they  were.  Under  temptations  and 
difficulties,  I  would  ask  myself,  '■  What  would  Dr.  Small,  Mr.  Wythe, 
Peyton  Randolph,  do  in  this  situation?  What  course  in  it  will 
insure  me  their  approbation  ?  ' 

"  From  the  circumstances  of  my  position,  I  was  often  thrown 
into  the  society  of  horse-racers,  card-players,  fox-hunters,  scien- 
tific and  professional  men,  and  of  dignified  men ;  and  many  a  time 
have  I  asked  myself,  in  the  enthusiastic  moment  of  the  death  of  a 
fox,  the  victory  of  a  favorite  horse,  the  issue  of  a  question  elo- 
quently argued  at  the  bar  or  in  the  great  council  of  the  nation, 
'  Well,  which  of  these  kinds  of  reputation  should  I  prefer,  —  that  of 
a  horse-jockey,  a  fox-hunter,  an  orator,  or  the  honest  advocate  uf 
my  country's  rights?'  Be  assured,  my  dear  Jefferson,  that  these 
little  returns  into  ourselves,  this  self-catechising  habit,  is  not 
trifling  nor  useless,  but  leads  to  the  prudent  selection  and  steady 
pursuit  of  what  is  right." 

In  the  year  1808,  Mr.  Jefferson  closed  his  second  term  of  office, 
and  James  Madison  succeeded  him  as  President  of  the  United 
States.  In  the  following  terms,  the  retiring  President  expresses 
to  a  friend  his  feelings  upon  surrendering  the  cares  of  office  :  — 

"  Within  a  few  days  I  retire  to  my  family,  my  books,  and  farms ; 
and,  having  gained  the  harbor  myself,  I  shall  look  on  my  friends, 
still  buffeting  the  storm,  with  anxiety  indeed,  but  not  with  envy. 
Never  did  a  prisoner,  released  from  his  chains,  feel  such  relief  as 
I  shall  on  shaking  off  the  shackles  of  power.  Nature  intended  me 
for  the  tranquil  pursuits  of  science  by  rendering  them  my  supreme 
delight ;  but  the  enormities  of  the  times  in  which  I  have  lived 
have  forced  me  to  take  a  part  in  resisting  them,  and  to  commit 
myself  on  the  boisterous  ocean  of  political  passions.  I  thank  God 
for  the  opportunity  of  retiring  from  them  without  censure,  and 

18 


138  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

carrying  with  me  the  most  consoling  proofs  of  public  approba- 
tion." 

President  Jefferson,  after  remaining  in  Washington  to  see  his 
successor  and  bosom  friend  inaugurated,  left  for  Monticello. 
Between  them,  after  Mr.  Jefferson's  retirement,  a  free  and  con- 
fidential correspondence  was  kept  up  respecting  the  measures  oi' 
government.  Their  intellectual  traits  were  very  similar,  while 
their  tastes  and  political  principles  were  quite  the  same.  Jeffer- 
son's subsequent  life  at  Monticello  was  very  similar  to  that  of 
Washington  at  Mount  Vernon.  A  kinder  master  never  lived.  On 
no  account  would  he  allow  his  slaves  to  be  overworked.  His 
mornings  he  devoted  to  his  numerous  correspondence ;  from 
breakfast  to  dinner,  he  was  in  the  shops  and  over  the  farms ;  from 
dinner  to  dark,  ho  devoted  to  recreation  and  friends ;  from  dark  to 
early  bedtime,  he  read.  He  was  particularly  interested  in  young 
men,  advising  them  as  to  their  course  of  reading.  Several  came, 
and  took  up  their  residence  in  the  neighboring  town  of  Charlottes- 
ville, that  they  might  avail  themselves  of  his  library,  which  was 
ever  open  for  their  use. 

From  a  series  of  untoward  events,  which  we  have  not  space 
here  to  record,  Mr.  Jefferson  became  deeply  involved  in  debt,  so 
that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  sell  a  large  portion  of  his  estate. 
Still,  in  the  year  1809,  he  owned  about  ten  thousand  acres  of  land, 
a  valuable  mansion,  richly  furnished,  with  a  large  and  costly  library. 
His  vast  plantation,  cut  up  into  several  farms,  was  well  stocked. 
His  slaves  numbered  two  hundred.  The  value  of  the  whole  prop- 
erty was  about  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  His  debts  were 
then  but  about  twenty  thousand  dollars.  But  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered that  this  property  was  productive  only  so  far  as  the  land 
could  be  worked.  Of  the  two  hundred  slaves,  one  hundred  were 
either  children  too  j^oung,  or  the  aged  too  infirm,  to  be  of  much 
service.  Of  the  one  hundred  who  remained,  some  were  mechanics, 
and  a  large  number  were  employed  as  house-servants.  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son was  profuse  in  his  hospitality.  Whole  families  came  in  their 
coaches  with  their  horses,  —  fathers  and  mothers,  boys  and  girls, 
babies  and  nurses, —  and  remained  three  or  even  six  months.  One 
family  of  six  persons  came  from  Europe,  and  made  a  visit  of  ten 
months.  After  a  short  tour,  they  returned,  and  remained  six 
months  longer.  Every  day  brought  its  contingent  of  guests.  A 
gentleman  who  was  often  present  says,  — 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  .        139 

"  People  of  wealth,  fashion,  men  in  office,  professional  men,  mil- 
itary and  civil,  lawyers,  doctors,  Pi-otestant  clergymen.  Catholic 
priests,  members  of  Congress,  foreign  ministers,  missionaries,  In- 
dian agents,  tourists,  travellers,  artists,  strangers,  friends,  came, 
some  from  affection  and  respect,  some  from  curiosity,  some  to  give 
or  receive  advice  or  instruction,  and  some  from  idleness.  Life  at 
Monticello,  for  years,  resembled  that  at  a  fashionable  watering- 
place.  Mr.  Jefferson  always  made  his  appearance  at  the  breakfast- 
table  :  his  guests  were  then  left  to  amuse  themselves  as  they 
pleased  until  dinner-time.  They  walked,  talked,  read,  made  ex- 
cursions with  the  ladies,  or  hunted  in  the  woods :  some  sought 
the  retirement  of  the  splendid  library;  others,  the  social  enjoyments 
of  the  drawing-room  ;  while  others  retired  to  the  quiet  of  their  own 
chambers,  or  to  a  solitary  stroll  down  the  mountain-side." 

Such  hospitality  would  speedily  consume  a  larger  fortune  than 
Mr.  Jefferson  possessed.  He  had  a  favorite  servant,  Wormley, 
who,  with  the  utmost  fidelity,  watched  over  the  interests  of  his 
master.  Mr.  Jefferson  had  three  carriage-houses,  each  of  which 
would  hold  a  four-horse  coach.  These  carriage-houses  were  for 
the  accommodation  of  his  friends,  who  came  with  their  loaded 
coaches,  drawn  by  four  horses,  to  visit  him.  Some  time  after  Mr. 
Jefferson's  death,  a  gentleman  at  Monticello  asked  Wormley  how 
often  those  carriage-houses  were  all  filled  in  Mr;  Jefferson's  time, 
He  replied,  "Every  night,  sir,  in  summer;  and  we  commonly  had 
two  or  three  carriages  besides  under  that  tree,"  pointing  to  a  large 
tree  in  the  vicinity.  "  It  must  have  taken,"  the  gentleman  added, 
"  all  hands  to  have  taken  care  of  your  visitors."  —  "  Yes,"  the 
faithful  old  slave  replied,  "  and  the  whole  farm  to  feed  them." 

Mr.  Jefferson's  daughter,  Mrs.  Randolph,  was  the  presiding  lady 
of  this  immense  establishment.  The  domestic  service  required 
thirty-seven  house-servants.  Mrs.  Randolph,  upon  being  asked 
what  was  the  greatest  number  of  guests  she  had  ever  entertained 
any  one  night,  replied,  "  she  believed  fifty." 

In  the  winter,  Mr.  Jefferson  had  some  little  repose  from  the 
Gi'owd  of  visitors.  He  then  enjoyed,  in  the  highest  possible 
degree,  all  that  is  endearing  in  domestic  life.  It  is  impossible  tO' 
describe  the  love  with  which  he  was  cherished  by  his  grand- 
children. One  of  them  writes,  in  a  letter  overflowing  with  the 
gushing  of  a  loving  heart,  "  My  Bible  came  from  him,  my  Shak- 
speare,  my  first  writing-table,  my  first  handsome  writing-desk,  my 


140  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS 

first  Leghorn  hat,  my  first  silk  dress :  what,  in  short,  of  all  my 
treasures  did  not  come  from  him?  My  sisters,  according  to  their 
wants  and  tastes,  were  equally  thought  of,  equally  provided  for. 
Our  grandfather  seemed  to  read  our  hearts,  to  see  our  individual 
wishes,  to  be  our  good  genius,  to  wave  the  fairy  wand  to  brighten 
our  young  lives  by  his  goodness  and  his  gifts." 

Another  writes,  "  I  cannot  describe  the  feelings  of  veneration, 
admiration,  and  love,  that  existed  in  my  heart  towards  him.  I 
looked  on  him  as  a  being  too  great  and  good  for  my  comprehen- 
sion ;  and  yet  I  felt  no  fear  to  approach  him,  and  be  taught  by  him 
some  of  the  childish  sports  I  delighted  in.  Not  one  of  us,  in  our 
wildest  moods,  ever  placed  a  foot  on  one  of  the  garden-beds,  for 
that  would  violate  one  of  his  rules ;  and  yet  I  never  heard  him 
utter  a  harsh  word  to  one  of  us,  or  speak  in  a  raised  tone  of  voice, 
or  use  a  threat." 

In  1812,  a  perfect  reconciliation  took  place  between  Mr.  Adams 
and  Mr.  Jefferson  ;  the  latter  very  handsomely  and  magnanimously 
making  the  first  advances.  This  friendship,  which  was  kept  up 
by  a  constant  interchange  of  letters,  continued  unabated  until 
their  death,  —  on  the  same  day,  and  almost  at  the  same  hour. 

After  Mr.  Jefferson  had  passed  his  threescore  years  and  ten, 
he  wrote  to  Mr.  Adams  in  the  following  jiiMlosoijTdc  strain,  which, 
as  usual,  leaves  us  in  the  dark  in  reference  to  his  religious  faith :  — 

''  You  ask  if  I  would  live  my  seventy,  or  rather  seventy-three, 
years  over  again.  To  which  I  say,  '  Yea.'  I  think,  with  you,  that 
it  is  a  good  world,  on  the  whole ;  that  it  has  been  framed  on  a 
principle  of  benevolence  ;  and  that  more  pleasure  than  pain  is  dealt 
out  to  us. 

"  There  is  a  ripeness  of  time  for  death,  regarding  others  as  well 
as  ourselves,  when  it  is  reasonable  we  should  drop  off,  and  make 
room  for  another  growth.  When  we  have  lived  our  generation 
out,  we  should  not  wish  to  encroach  on  another.  I  enjoy  good 
health ;  I  am  happy  in  what  is  around  me  :  yet  I  assure  you  I  am 
ripe  to  leave  all  this  day,  this  year,  this  hour."  In  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Adams,  dated  January,  1817,  we  find  the  remark,  "Perhaps,  how- 
ever, one  of  the  elements  of  future  felicity  is  to  be  a  constant  and 
unimpassioned  view  of  what  is  passing  here."  In  the  same  letter, 
he  says,  that,  in  reply  to  the  question  of  one  respecting  his  reli- 
gious faith,  he  answered,  "  Say  nothing  of  my  religion  :  it  is  known 
to  my  God  and  myself  alone." 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  141 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  ever  ready  to  express  his  views  frankly  upon 
all  subjects  of  science,  philosophy,  and  politics.  It  is  certainly 
remarkable  that  such  a  man  was  not  willing  to  express  his  views 
upon  a  subject  more  important  than  all  others,  —  the  eternal  well- 
being  of  man.  Again :  he  writes  to  Mr.  John  Adams  in  a  strain 
which  throws  interesting  light  upon  his  occupation  at  that  time, 
"  Forty-three  volumes  read  in  one  year,  and  twelve  of  them  quarto. 
Dear  sir,  how  I  envy  you  !  Half  a  dozen  of  octavos  in  that  space  of 
time  are  as  much  as  I  am  allowed.  I  can  read  by  candle-light  only, 
and  stealing  long  hours  from  my  rest.  From  sunrise  to  one  or  two 
o'clock,  and  often  from  dinner  to  dark,  I  am  drudging  at  the  writ- 
ing-table :  and  all  this  to  answer  letters  in  which  neither  interest 
nor  inclination  on  my  part  enters,  and  often  from  persons  whose 
names  I  have  never  before  heard ;  yet,  writing  civilly,  it  is  hard 
to  refuse  them  civil  answers."  He  had  the  curiosity  to  count  the 
letters  received  for  one  year, — a  fair  average  ;  and  they  amounted 
to  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven.  At  his  death  he 
had  copies  of  sixteen  thousand  letters  which  he  had  written ; 
and  he  had  twenty-five  thousand  letters  on  file  which  he  had 
received. 

In  November,  1818,  Mrs.  John  Adams  died;  and  President  Jef- 
ferson wrote  the  following  beautiful  letter  of  condolence  to  her 
husband :  — 

"The  public  papers,  my  dear  friend,  announce  the  fatal  event 
of  which  your  letter  of  October  the  20th  had  given  me  ominous 
foreboding.  Tried  myself  in  the  school  of  affliction  by  the  loss  of 
every  form  of  connection  which  can  rive  the  human  heart,  I  know 
well  and  feel  what  you  have  lost,  what  you  have  suffered,  are 
suffering,  and  have  yet  to  endure.  The  same  trials  have  taught 
me,  that,  for  ills  so  immeasurable,  time  and  silence  are  the  only 
medicine.  I  will  not,  therefore,  by  useless  condolences,  open 
afresh  the  sluices  of  your  grief;  nor,  although  mingling  sincerely 
my  tears  with  yours,  will  I  say  a  word  more,  where  Avords  are 
vain,  but  that  it  is  some  comfort  to  us  both  that  the  term  is  not 
very  distant  at  which  we  are  to  deposit  in  the  same  cerement  our 
sorrows  and  suffering  bodies,  and  to  ascend  in  essence  to  an 
ecstatic  meeting  with  the  friends  we  have  loved  and  lost,  and 
whom  we  shall  still  love,  and  never  lose  again.  God  bless  you, 
and  support  you  under  your  heavy  affliction  !  " 

In  a  letter  dated  March  21,  1819,  he  writes  to  Dr.  Vine  Utley, 


142  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"I  never  go  to  bed  without  an  hour  or  half  an  hour's  previous 
reading  of  something  moral  whereon  to  ruminate  in  the  intervals 
of  sleep."  The  book  from  which  he  oftenest  read  was  a  collection 
which  he  had  made  by  cutting  such  passages  from  the  evangelists 
as  came  directly  from  the  lips  of  the  Saviour.  These  he  arranged 
in  a  blank-book.  JeiFerson  writes  to  a  friend,  "  A  more  beautiful 
or  precious  morsel  of  ethics  I  have  never  seen :  it  is  a  document 
in  proof  that  /am  a  real  Christian;  that  is  to  say,  a  disciple  of 
the  doctrines  of  Jesus."  This  book  Mr.  JelTerson  prepared  evi- 
dently with  great  care.  It  is  a  very  full  compend  of  the  teachings 
of  our  Saviour.  It  was  entitled  "  The  Philosophy  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth."  He  also  prepared  a  second  volume,  which  he  had 
bound  in  morocco,  in  a  handsome  octavo  volume,  and  which  he 
labelled  on  the  back,  "  Morals  of  Jesus."  It  is  a  little  remarkable 
that  Mr.  Jefferson  should  have  made  these  collections  so  secretly, 
that  none  of  the  members  of  his  family  knew  even  of  the  existence 
of  the  books  until  after  his  death.  One  would  have  supposed  that 
he  would  have  considered  these  teachings  valuable  for  his  children 
and  his  grandchildren  as  well  as  for  himself  Indeed,  we  are 
informed  that  he  conferred  with  some  friends  upon  the  expediency 
of  printing  them  in  several  Indian  dialects  for  the  instruction  of 
the  Indians. 

He  devoted  much  attention  to  the  establishment  of  the  uni- 
versity at  Charlottesville.  Having  no  religious  faith  which  he 
was  willing  to  avow,  he  was  not  willing  that  any  religious  faith 
whatever  should  be  taught  in  the  university  as  a  part  of  its 
course  of  instruction.  This  establishment,  in  a  Christian  land,  of 
an  institution  for  the  education  of  youth,  where  the  relation  exist- 
ing between  man  and  his  Maker  was  entirely  ignored,  raised  a 
general  cry  of  disapproval  throughout  the  whole  country.  It  left 
a  stigma  upon  the  reputation  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  the  minds  of 
Christian  people,  which  can  never  be  effaced.  He  endeavored  to 
ibate  the  censure  by  suggesting  that  the  various  denominations 
of  Christians  might  establish  schools,  if  they  wished,  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  university ;  and  the  students,  if  they  wished,  could 
attend  their  religious  instructions. 

The  year  1826  opened  gloomily  upon  Mr.  Jefferson.  He  was 
very  infirm,  and  embarrassed  by  debts,  from  which  he  could  see 
but  little  hope  of  extrication.  The  indorsement  for  a  friend  had 
placed  upon  him  an  additional  twenty  thousand  dollars  of  debt. 


THOMAS  JEFFEItSON.  143 

To  be  old  and  poor  is  one  of  the  greatest  of  earthly  calamities.  He 
applied  to  the  Legislature  for  permission  to  dispose  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  his  property  by  lottery,  hoping  thus  to  realize  a  sum  suffi- 
cient  to  pay  his  debts,  and  to  leave  enough  to  give  him  a  competence 
for  his  few  remaining  days.  Though  bitterly  opposed  to  all 
gambling,  he  argued,  in  support  of  his  petition,  that  lotteries  were 
not  immoral.  The  university  at  Charlottesville,  which  was 
regarded  almost  exclusively  as  Mr.  Jefferson's  institution,  had 
cost  vastly  more  than  had  been  anticipated.  The  members  of  the 
Legislature  had  become  weary  of  making  grants;  and, just  as  Mr. 
Jefferson  sent  in  his  petition  for  a  lottery,  they  had,  by  a  very  deci- 
sive vote,  refused  an  application  for  an  additional  grant  of  money 
for  the  university.  Mortified  and  saddened,  and  anxious  for  the 
future,  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  that,  if  the  Legislature  would  grant 
him  the  indulgence  he  solicited, — 

''  I  can  save  the  house  of  Monticello  and  a  farm  adjoining  to  end 
my  days  in,  and  bury  my  bones  ;  if  not,  I  must  sell  house  and  all 
here,  and  carry  my  family  to  Bedford,  where  I  have  not  even  a 
log  hut  to  put  my  head  into." 

At  the  sarne  time,  he  wrote  to  his  eldest  grandson  in  a  strain 
of  dignity  and  of  sorrow  which  no  one  can  read  but  with  sympa- 
thy. The  letter  was  dated  Feb.  8,  1826.  "I  duly  received 
your  affectionate  letter  of  the  3d,  and  perceive  there  are  greater 
doubts  than  I  had  apprehended  whether  the  Legislature  will 
indulge  my  request  to  them.  It  is  a  part  of  my  mortification 
to  perceive  that  I  had  so  far  overvalued  myself  as  to  have  counted 
on  it  with  too  much  confidence.  I  see,  in  the  failure  of  this  hope, 
a  deadly  blast  of  all  my  peace  of  mind  during  my  remaining  days. 
You  kindly  encourage  me  to  keep  up  my  spirits ;  but,  oppressed 
with  disease,  debility,  age,  and  embarrassed  affairs,  this  is  difficult. 
For  myself,  I  should  not  regard  a  prostration  of  fortune ;  but  I  am 
overwhelmed  at  the  prospect  in  which  I  leave  my  family.  My 
dear  and  beloved  daughter,  the  cherished  companion  of  my  early 
life,  and  nurse  of  my  age,  and  her  children,  rendered  as  dear  to  me 
as  if  my  own,  from  their  having  lived  with  me  from  their  cradle, 
left  in  a  comfortless  situation,  hold  up  to  me  nothing  but  future 
gloom ;  and  I  should  not  care  if  life  were  to  end  with  the  line  I 
am  writing,  were  it  not,  that,  in  the  unhappy  state  of  mind  which 
your  father's  misfortunes  have  brought  upon  him,  I  may  yet  be 
of  some  avail  to  the  family." 


144  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIllENTS. 

To  Mr.  Jefferson's  great  gratification,  the  lottery  bill  passed. 
But,  all  over  the  country,  fr-iends,  who  appreciated  the  priceless 
value  of  the  services  which  he  had  rendered  our  nation,  began  to 
send  to  him  tokens  of  their  love.  The  maj^or  of  New  York,  Philip 
Hone,  sent  him,  collected  from  a  few  friends,  eight  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars ;  from  Philadelphia,  five  thousand  dollars  were 
sent ;  from  Baltimore,  three  thousand  dollars ;  and  one  or  two 
thousand  more  were  sent  from  other  sources.  These  testimonials, 
like  sunshine  breaking  through  the  clouds,  dispelled  the  gloom 
which  had  been  so  deeply  gathering  around  his  declining  day. 
Very  rapidly  he  was  now  sinking.  His  steps  became  so  feeble, 
that  with  difiiculty  he  could  totter  about  the  house. 

His  very  eloquent  and  truthful  biographer,  Henry  S.  Randall, 
says  that  the  Bible  was  one  of  the  principal  books,  which,  with 
the  Greek  philosophers,  occupied  his  last  reading.  "  The  majesty 
of  ^schylus,  the-ripe  art  of  Sophocles,  the  exhaustless  invention 
of  Euripides,  now  came  back  to  him  in  more  than  their  pristine 
grandeur  and  beauty ;  and  in  the  Bible  he  found  flights  of  sub- 
limity more  magnificent  than  in  these,  coupled  with  a  philosophy 
to  which  the  Grecian  was  imperfect,  narrow,  and  base.  No  senti- 
ment did  he  express  oftener  than  his  contempt  for  all  moral  systems 
compared  with  that  of  Christ." 

There  was  something  peculiarly  gentle  and  touching  in  his 
whole  demeanor.  His  good-night  kiss,  his  loving  embrace,  his 
childlike  simplicity  and  tenderness,  often  brought  tears  to  the 
eyes  of  those  whose  privilege  it  was  to  minister  to  his  wants.  It 
was  evident  that  he  was  conscious  that  the  hour  of  his  departure 
was  at  hand.  He  was  exceedingly  careful  to  avoid  making  any 
trouble,  and  was  far  more  watchful  for  the  comfort  of  those  around 
him  than  for  his  own.  His  passage  was  very  slow  down  into  the 
.vale  of  death.  To  one  who  expressed  ih.Q  opinion  that  he  seemed 
a  little  better,  he  replied,  — 

"  Do  not  imagine  for  a  moment  that  I  feel  the  smallest  solicitude 
about  the  result.  I  am  like  an  old  watch,  with  a  pinion  worn  out 
here  and  a  wheel  there,  until  it  can  go  no  longer." 

He  manifested  no  desire  to  depart,  no  cheerful  hope  of  the 
future,  and  no  dread.  Looking  up  to  the  doctor,  he  said  calmly, 
"  A  few  hours  more,  and  it  will  all  be  over,"  Hearing  the  name 
of  the  minister  of  the  Episcopal  Church  which  he  attended,  who 
had  called,  he  said,  "  I  have  no  objection  to  see  him  as  a  kind  and 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  145 

good  neighbor."  His  friends  inferred  from  this  that  he  did  not 
wish  to  see  him  as  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ.  Very  truly  and 
charitably  he  said,  in  reference  to  the  anathemas  which  had  been 
hurled  upon  him,  that  his  enemies  had  never  known  him;  that 
they  had  created  an  imaginary  being,  whom  they  had  clothed  with 
imaginary  attributes,  and  to  whom  they  had  given  his  name  ;  and 
that  it  was  this  creature  of  their  imagination  whom  they  had  so 
virulently  assailed. 

On  Monday  evening,  the  3d  of  July,  he  awoke  about  ten  o'clock 
from  troubled  sleep,  and,  thinking  it  morning,  remarked,  "  This  is 
the  4th  of  July."  Immediately  he  sank  away  again  into  slum- 
ber. As  the  night  passed  slowly  away,  all  saw  that  he  was  sinking 
in  death.  There  was  silence  in  the  death-chamber.  The  myste- 
rious separation  of  the  soul  from  the  body  was  painlessly  taking 
place.  At  ten  minutes  before  one  o'clock,  at  noon,  of  July  4,  1826, 
the  last  breath  left  the  body.  It  was  a  day  of  darkness  and  rain 
when  the  remains  were  borne  to  their  burial.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Hatch,  the  clergyman  of  the  parish,  whom  Mr.  Jefferson  highly 
esteemed,  read  the  burial  service  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  give  an  abstract  of  a  sketch  of  his  charac- 
ter, as  given  by  his  grandson,  Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph,  who 
was  ^he  companion  of  his  life,  and  who  was  thirty-four  years  of 
age  when  Mr.  Jefferson  died.     He  writes,  — 

"  My  mother  was  his  eldest,  and,  for  the  last  twenty  years  of  his 
life,  his  only  child.  She  lived  with  him  from  her  birth  to  his 
death.  I  was  more  intimate  with  him  than  with  any  man  I  have 
ever  known.  His  character  invited  such  intimacy.  Soft  and  femi- 
nine in  his  affections  to  his  family,  he  entered  into  and  sympathized 
with  all  their  feelings,  winning  them  to  paths  of  virtue  by  the 
soothing  gentleness  of  his  manner.  While  he  lived,  and  since,  I 
have  reviewed  with  severe  scrutiny  those  interviews ;  and  I  must 
say,  that  I  never  heard  from  him  the  expression  of  one  thought, 
feeling,  or  sentiment,  inconsistent  with  the  highest  moral  standard, 
or  the  purest  Christian  charity  in  the  largest  sense.  His  moral 
character  was  of  the  highest  order,  founded  upon  the  purest  and 
sternest  models  of  antiquity,  softened,  chastened,  and  developed 
by  the  influence  of  the  all-pervading  benevolence  of  the  doctrines 
of  Christ,  which  he  had  intensely  and  admiringly  studied. 

"  In  his  contemplative  moments,  his  mind  turned  to  religion, 
which  he  studied  thoroughly.     He  had  seen  and  read  much  of  the 

19 


146  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

abuses  and  perversions  of  Chistianity :  he  abhorred  those  abuses 
and  their  authors,  and  denounced  them  without  reserve.  He  was 
regular  in  his  attendance  on  church,  taking  his  prayer-book  with 
him.  He  drew  the  plan  of  the  Episcopal  Church  at  Charlottes- 
ville, was  one  of  the  largest  contributors  to  its  erection,  and  con- 
tributed regularly  to  the  support  of  its  minister.  I  paid,  after  his 
death,  his  subscription  of  two  hundred  dollars  to  the  erection  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  in  the  same  village.  A  gentleman  of 
some  distinction  calling  upon  him,  and  expressing  his  disbelief  in 
the  truths  of  the  Bible,  his  reply  was, '  Then,  sir,  you  have  studied 
it  to  little  purpose.' 

"  He  was  guilty  of  no  profanity  himself,  and  did  not  tolerate  it 
in  others.  He  detested  impiety ;  and  his  favorite  quotation  for  his 
young  friends,  as  the  basis  of  their  morals,  was  the  fifteenth  Psalm 
of  David.  He  did  not  permit  cards  in  his  house :  he  knew  no 
game  with  them.  His  family,  by  whom  he  was  surrounded,  and 
who  saw  him  in  all  the  unguarded  privacy  of  private  life,  believed 
him  to  be  the  purest  of  men.  The  beauty  of  his  character  was 
exhibited  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  where  he  delighted  to  indulge 
in  all  the  fervor  and  delicacy  of  feminine  feeling.  Before  he  lost 
his  taste  for  the  violin,  in  winter  evenings  he  would  play  on  it, 
having  his  grandchildren  dancing  around  him.  In  summer,  he 
would  station  them  for  their  little  races  on  the  lawn,  give  the 
signal  for  the  start,  be  the  arbiter  of  the  contest,  and  award  the 
prizes. 

''  In  his  person,  he  was  neat  in  the  extreme.  In  early  life,  his 
dress,  equipage,  and  appointments  were  fastidiously  appropriate 
to  his  rank.  When  at  Paris,  Philadelphia,  and  Washington,  his 
furniture,  table,  servants,  equipage,  and  the  tout  ensemble  of  his 
establishment,  were  deemed  highly  appropriate  to  the  position  he 
held.  He  was  a  gentleman  everywhere.  His  habits  were  regu- 
lar and  systematic.  He  rose  always  at  dawn.  He  said  in  his  last 
illness  that  the  sun  had  not  caught  him  in  bed  for  fifty  years.  He 
never  drank  ardent  spirits  or  strong  wines.  Such  was  his  aver- 
sion to  ardent  spirits,  that  when,  in  his  last  illness,  his  physician 
wished  him  to  use  brandy  as  an  astringent,  he  could  not  induce 
him  to  take  it  strong  enough." 

After  Mr.  Jefferson's  death,  the  lottery  plan  was  abandoned. 
The  lands  were  sold;  and  after  the  disposal  of  the  whole  property, 
the  proceeds  not  being  sufficient  to  pay  the  debts,  the  executor 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  147 

met  the  balance  from  his  own  purse.  As  soon  as  it  was  known 
that  his  only  child  was  thus  left  without  any  independent  provis- 
ion, the  legislatures  of  South  Carolina  and  Louisiana  generously 
voted  her  ten  thousand  dollars  each. 

As  time  dispels  the  mists  of  prejudice,  the  fame  of  Thomsis 
Jefferson  will  shine  with  ever-increasing  lustre ;  and  he  must,  in 
all  the  future,  occupy  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  niches  in  the 
temple  of  American  worthies. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


JAMES      MADISON. 


Childhood.  —  C!ollege-life.  —  Studious  Habits.  —  Enters  Public  Life.  —  Mental  Character- 
istics.—  Aid  in  framing  the  Constitution.  —  In  Congress.  —  Marriage.  —  Mrs.  Madison.  — 
Alien  and  Sedition  Laws.  —  Secretary  of  State.  —  The  White  House.  —  Life  in  Washing- 
ton. —  Friendship  with  Jefferson.  —  Abrogation  of  Titles.  —  Anecdote.  —  Chosen  Presi- 
dent. —  Right  of  Search.  —  War  with  England.  —  Re-elected.  —  Treaty  of  Ghent.  — 
Arrival  of  the  News.  —  Retirement  to  Montpelier.  —  Old  Age,  and  Death. 

The  name  of  James  Madison  is  inseparably  connected  with  most 
of  the  important  events  in  that  heroic  period  of  our  country  dur- 


>lOXTPELIEK,- 


'<-t_  '^' — ■"  'V' 

•KESIDEXCE   OF   JAMES   MADISON. 


ing  which  the  foundations  of  this  great  republic  were  laid.  The 
Madison  Family  were  among  the  earliest  emigrants  to  this  Nevr 
World,  landing  upon  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake  but  fifteen  years 
after  the  settlement  at  Jamestown. 

148 


JAMES  MADISON.  149 

The  father  of  James  Madison  was  an  opulent  planter,  residing 
upon  a  very  fine  estate  called  "  Montpeher,"  in  Orange  County, 
Va.  The  mansion  was  situated  in  the  midst  of  scenery  highly 
picturesque  and  romantic,  on  the  west  side  of  South-west  Mountain, 
at  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  It  was  but  twenty-five  miles  from 
the  home  of  Jefi'erson  at  Monticello.  The  closest  personal  and 
'political  attachment  existed  between  these  illustrious  men,  from 
their  early  youth  until  death. 

James  Madison  was  born  on  the  5th  of  March,  1751.  He  was 
blessed  with  excellent  parents ;  both  father  and  mother  being  per- 
sons of  intelligence  and  of  great  moral  worth.  The  best  society  of 
Virginia  often  visited  at  their  hospitable  mansion  ;  and  thus,  from 
early  life,  Mr.  Madison  was  accustomed  to  those  refinements  which 
subsequently  lent  such  a  charm  to  his  character.  His  sobriety, 
and  dignity  of  demeanor,  were  such,  that  it  has  been  said  of  him 
that  "  he  never  was  a  boy." 

James  was  the  eldest  of  a  family  of  seven  children,  —  four  sons 
and  three  daughters,  —  all  of  whom  attained  maturity,  and  passed 
through  life  esteemed  and  beloved.  His  early  education  was  con- 
ducted mostly  at  home,  under  a  private  tutor.  He  was  naturally 
intellectual  in  his  tastes,  and,  with  but  little  fondness  for  rough,  out- 
of-door  sports,  consecrated  himself  with  unusual  vigor  to  study. 
Even  when  a  boy,  he  had  made  very  considerable  proficiency  in 
the  Greek,  Latin,  French,  and  Spanish  languages.  In  the  year 
1769,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  was  sent  to  Princeton  College  in 
New  Jersey,  of  which  the  illustrious  Dr.  Witherspoon  was  then 
president.  Here  he  applied  himself  to  study  with  the  most  impru- 
dent zeal ;  allowing  himself,  for  months,  but  three  hours'  sleep  out 
of  the  twenty-four.  His  health  thus  became  so  seriously  impaired, 
that  he  never  recovered  any  vigor  of  constitution.  He  graduated  in 
1771,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  with  a  feeble  body,  with  a  character  of 
the  utmost  purity,  and  with  a  mind  highly  disciplined,  and  richly 
stored  with  all  the  learning  which  embellished,  and  gave  efficiency 
to,  his  subsequent  career. 

Returning  to  Virginia,  he  commenced  the  study  of  law,  and  a 
course  of  extensive  and  systematic  reading.  This  educational 
course,  the  spirit  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  and  the  society 
with  which  he  associated,  all  combined  to  inspire  him  with  a 
strong  love  of  liberty,  and  to  train  him  for  his  life-work  of  a  states- 
man.    Being  naturally  of  a  religious  turn  of  mind,  and  his  frail 


150  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

health  leading  him  to  think  that  his  life  was  not  to  be  long,  he 
directed  especial  attention  to  theological  studies.  Endowed  with 
a  mind  singularly  free  from  passion  and  prejudice,  and  with  almost 
unequalled  powers  of  reasoning,  he  weighed  all  the  arguments  for 
and  against  revealed  religion,  until  his  faith  became  so  established 
as  never  to  be  shaken. 

The  Church  of  England  was  then  the  established  church  in  Vir- 
ginia, invested  with  all  the  prerogatives  and  immunities  which  it 
enjoyed  in  the  father-land.  All  were  alike  taxed  to  support  its 
clergy.  There  was  no  religious  Hberty.  Mr.  Madison  first  appears 
before  the  public,  associated  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  as  the  opponent 
of  this  intolerance.  The  battle  was  a  fierce  one.  The  foes  of  in- 
tolerance were  denounced  as  the  enemies  of  Christianity;  but 
liberty  triumphed,  and  rehgious  freedom  was  established  in  Vir- 
ginia. 

In  the  spring  of  1776,  when  twenty-six  years  of  age,  he  was 
elected  member  of  the  Virginia  Convention,  to  frame  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  State.  Being  one  of  the  youngest  members  of  the  house, 
naturally  diffident,  and  having  no  ambitious  aspirings  to  push  him 
forward,  he  took  but  little  part  in  the  public  debates.  Like  Jef- 
ferson, his  main  strength  lay  in  his  conversational  influence  and  in 
his  pen.  Real  ability  and  worth  cannot  long  be  concealed.  Every 
day,  almost  unconsciously  to  himself,  he  was  gaining  influence  and 
position.  The  next  year  (1777),  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  General 
Assembly.  He  refused  to  treat  the  whiskey-loving  voters,  and  con- 
sequently lost  his  election ;  but  those  who  had  witnessed  the 
talents,  energy,  and  public  spirit  of  the  modest  young  man,  en- 
listed themselves  in  his  behalf,  and  he  was  appointed  a  member 
of  the  Executive  Council. 

Both  Patrick  Henry  and  Thomas  JefiFerson  were  governors  of 
Virginia  while  Mr.  Madison  remained  member  of  the  council ;  and 
their  appreciation  of  his  intellectual,  social,  and  moral  worth,  con- 
tributed not  a  little  to  his  subsequent  eminence.  In  the  year 
1780,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress.  Here 
he  met  the  most  illustrious  men  in  our  land,  and  he  was  imme- 
diately assigned  to  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  positions  among 
them.  Mr.  Jefierson  says  of  him,  in  allusion  to  the  study  and 
experience  through  which  he  had  already  passed,  — 

"  Trained  in  these  successive  schools,  he  acquired  a  habit  of 
self-possession  which  placed  at  ready  command  the  rich  resources 


JAMES  MADISON.  151 

of  his  luminous  and  discriminating  mind  and  of  his  extensive  in- 
formation, and  rendered  him  the  first  of  every  assembly  afterwards 
of  which  he  became  a  member.  Never  wandering  from  his  sub- 
ject into  vain  declamation,  but  pursuing  it  closely  in  language 
pure,  classical,  and  copious  ;  soothing  always  the  feelings  of  his  ad- 
versaries by  civilitie\^,  and  softness  of  expression,  —  he  rose  to  the 
eminent  station  which  he  held  in  the  great  National  Convention  of 
1787  ;  and  in  that  of  Virginia,  which  followed,  he  sustained  the 
new  Constitution  in  all  its  parts,  bearing  off  the  palm  against  the 
logic  of  George  Mason  and  the  fervid  declamation  of  Patrick 
Henry.  With  these  consummate  powers  were  united  a  pure  and 
i?potless  virtue,  which  no  calumny  has  ever  attempted  to  sully. 
Of  the  power  and  polish  of  his  pen,  and  of  the  wisdom  of  his 
administration  in  the  highest  office  of  the  nation,  I  need  say  noth- 
ing.    They  have  spoken,  and  will  forever  speak,  for  themselves." 

Every  American  citizen  must  reflect  with  pride  upon  the  fact 
that  he  can  point  to  a  series  of  rulers  over  these  United  States 
such  as  no  other  nation  on  earth  can  boast  of  Let  any  intelligent 
reader  glance  at  the  catalogue  of  kings  of  England,  France,  Spain, 
—  rulers  who  have  attained  the  supreme  power  by  hereditary 
descent,  —  and  compare  them  with  the  presidents  which  the  elective 
franchise  has  given  to  this  country,  and  even  prejudice  the  most 
unbending  will  be  compelled  to  admit  that  popular  choice  is  far 
more  unerring  in  the  selection  of  rulers  than  the  chances  of  birth. 
Every  monarchy  in  Europe  has  had  upon  the  throne  men  as 
worthless  as  earth  has  ever  seen.  America  has  not  had  a  single 
president  who  has  not  been  a  man  of  moral  and  social  excellence, 
who  was  not  in  heart  a  true  patriot,  and  who  did  not  honestly, 
though  perhaps  at  times  with  mistaken  policy,  seek  the  promotion 
of  the  best  interests  of  his  country.  ■ 

For  three  years  Mr.  Madison  continued  in  Congress,  one  of  its 
most  active  and  influential  members.  In  the  year  1784,  his  term 
having  expired,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Legisla- 
ture. Here  he  was  the  earnest  supporter  of  every  wise  and  liberal 
measure.  He  advocated  the  revision  of  the  old  statutes,  the  abro- 
gation of  entail  and  primogeniture,  and  the  establishment  of  per- 
fect religious  freedom.  His  "  Memorial  and  Remonstrance " 
against  a  general  assessment  for  the  support  of  religion  is  con- 
sidered one  of  the  ablest  papers  which  emanated  from  his  pen.  It 
settled  the  question  of  the  entire  separation  of  church  and  state 
in  Virginia. 


152  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS 

He  still  continued,  in  the  midst  of  all  these  responsibilities,  to 
prosecute  with  much  energy  his  legal  and  literary  studies.  It 
was  never  his  wish  to  enter  upon  the  practice  of  the  law ;  and,  in 
a  letter  to  Mr.  Randolph  in  1785,  he  says,  "  Another  of  my  wishes 
is,  to  depend  as  little  as  possible  on  the  labor  of  slaves."  The  fol- 
lowing extract  from  a  letter  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  from  Annapolis,  to 
Mr.  Madison,  under  date  of  Feb.  20,  1764,  gives  a  pleasing  pic- 
ture of  the  friendship  then  and  ever  existing  between  Jefferson, 
Madison,  and  Monroe :  — 

"  I  hope  you  have  found  access  to  my  library.  I  beg  you  to 
make  free  use  of  it.  The  steward  is  living  there  now,  and,  of 
course,  will  always  be  in  the  way.  Monroe  is  buying  land  almost 
adjoining  me:  Short  will  do  the  same.  What  would  I  not  give 
could  you  fall  into  the  circle  !  With  such  a  society,  I  could  once 
more  venture  home,  and  lay  myself  up  for  the  residue  of  life,  quit- 
ting all  its  contentions,  which  grow  daily  more  and  more  insup- 
portable. 

"  Think  of  it.  To  render  it  practicable,  only  requires  you  to  think 
it  so.  Life  is  of  no  value  but  as  it  brings  us  gratifications.  Among 
the  most  valuable  of  these  is  rational  society.  It  informs  the  mind, 
sweetens  the  temper,  cheers  our  spirits,  and  restores  health. 
There  is  a  little  farm  of  one  hundred  and  forty  acres  adjoining  me, 
and  within  two  miles,  all  of  good  land,  though  old,  with  a  small, 
indifferent  house  upon  it ;  the  whole  worth  not  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  Such  a  one  might  be  a  farm  of 
experiment,  and  support  a  little  table  and  household.  Once  more, 
think  of  it,  and  adieu." 

There  was  a  vein  of  pleasantry  pervading  the  character  of  Mr. 
Madison,  which  ever  rendered  him  to  his  friends  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  of  companions.  No  man  felt  more  deeply  than  Mr. 
Madison  the  utter  ineflSciency  of  the  old  confederacy,  with  no  na- 
tional government,  with  no  power  to  form  treaties  which  would  be 
binding  or  to  enforce  law.  There  was  not  any  State  more  promi- 
nent than  Virginia  in  the  declaration,  that  an  eflScient  national 
government  must  be  formed.  In  January,  1786,  Mr.  Madison  car- 
ried a  resolution  through  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  invit- 
ing the  other  States  to  appoint  commissioners  to  meet  in  conven- 
tion at  Annapolis  to  discuss  this  subject.  Five  States  only  were 
represented.  The  convention,  however,  issued  another  call,  drawn 
up  by  Mr.  Madison,  urging  all  the  States  to  send  their  delegates  to 


JAMES  MADISON.  153 

Philadelphia,  in  May,  1787,  to  draught  a  Constitution  for  the  United 
States,  to  take  the  place  of  that  Confederate  League  which  the 
sagacity  of  John  Adams  had  foretold  must  prove  a  failure. 

The  delegates  met  at  the  time  appointed.  Every  State  but 
Rhode  Island  was  represented.  George  Washington  was  chosen 
president  of  the  convention  ;  and  the  present  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  was  then  and  there  formed. 

When  Charles  X.  was  driven  from  France,  and  Louis  Philippe 
was  invited  to  take  the  throne,  Lafayette  took  his  hand,  as  they 
stood  upon  a  balcony  of  the  HQtel  de  Ville  in  Paris,  while  swarm- 
ing thousands  were  gathered  around,  and  said,  — 

"  You  know  that  I  am  a  republican,  and  that  I  regard  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  as  the  most  perfect  that  has  ever 
existed." 

"  I  think  as  you  do,"  replied  Louis  Philippe.  "  It  is  impossible 
to  pass  two  years  in  the  United  States,  as  I  have  done,  and  not  be 
of  that  opinion.  But  do  you  think,  that,  in  the  present  state  of 
France,  a  republican  government  can  be  sustained  here  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Lafayette  :  "  that  which  is  necessary  for  France  is  a 
throne)  surrounded  by  republican  institutions :  all  must  be  repub- 
lican." 

When  we  consider  the  speakers  and  the  occasion,  we  must  re- 
gard this  as  the  highest  compliment  ever  paid  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States ;  and  our  nation  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude, 
which  can  never  be  paid,  not  only  to  the  founders  of  this  Constitu- 
tion, but  also  to  those  heroic  soldiers  of  our  land,  who  on  the  field 
of  battle,  and  with  their  blood,  have  defended  it  when  treason 
would  have  trampled  it  in  the  dust. 

There  was,  perhaps,  no  mind  and  no  pen  more  active  in  framing 
this  immortal  document  than  the  mind  and  the  pen  of  James  Mad- 
ison. Mr.  Jefferson  pays  the  following  beautiful  tribute  to  his 
character  and  ability  :  — 

"  I  have  known  him  from  1779,  when  he  first  came  into  the  pub- 
lic councils ;  and,  after  three  and  thirty  years'  trial,  I  can  say  con- 
scientiously, that  I  do  not  know  in  the  world  a  man  of  purer  in- 
tegrity, more  dispassionate,  disinterested,  and  devoted  to  genuine 
republicanism ;  nor  could  I,  in  the  whole  scope  of  America  and 
Europe,  point  out  an  abler  head." 

There  were  two  parties  to  be  reconciled  in  forming  the  Consti- 
tution.    The  Federal  party  were  in  favor  of  making  the   Central 

20 

4 


154  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

government  strong,  investing  it  with  such  powers  that  we  should 
be  a  compact  and  united  nation ;  while  they  still  would  give  the 
State  governments  full  authority  in  all  local  matters.  The  Repub- 
lican party  would  make  the  State  governments  strong,  reserving  for 
them  all  rights  excepting  those  which  it  was  absolutely  necessary 
to  surrender  to  the  central  power  at  Washington.  The  Constitu- 
tion, as  formed,  was  a  very  harmonious  blending  of  these  two  ap- 
parently antagonistic  principles.  Neither  party  was  fully  satis, 
fied  with  the  results.  The  Federalists  would  have  given  the  Cen- 
tral government  more  power :  the  Republicans  would  have  given 
the  State  governments  more  power.  And,  from  that  time  to  this, 
that  point  has  been  prominent  in  the  conflict  of  parties. 

Washington  and  John  Adams  strongly  inclined  to  the  Federal 
side;  Jefferson,  to  the  Republican  side.  "Mr.  Madison,"  writes 
George  Washington,  "  thinks  an  individual  independence  of  the 
States  utterly  irreconcilable  with  their  aggregate  sovereignty, 
and  that  a  consolidation  of  the  whole  into  one  simple  republic 
would  be  as  inexpedient  as  it  is  unattainable.  He  therefore  pro- 
poses a  middle  ground,  which  may  at  once  support  a  due  suprem- 
acy of  the  national  authority,  and  not  exclude  the  local  authori- 
ties whenever  they  can  be  subordinately  useful." 

During  the  discussion  of  these  great  questions,  the  views  of  the 
Federal  party  were  urged  in  a  series  of  letters,  which  then  attained 
the  celebrity  which  they  have  ever  since  held.  These  letters 
were  signed  The  Federalist.  Gen.  Hamilton  was  the  principal 
jvriter,  though  several  papers  were  furnished  by  Mr.  Madison  and 
Mr.  Jay. 

Sonie  were  in  favor  of  electing  the  president  and  the  members 
of  the  Senate  for  life,  or  during  good  behavior,  as  with  our  judges. 
Others  wished  that  the  president  might  be  re-elected  every  four 
years,  like  a  Polish  king  ;  and  that  he  might  thus,  should  the  peo- 
ple choose,  by  continual  re-elections,  become  a  life-long  ruler. 
Others  urged  that  he  should  serve  but  one  term,  and  be  forever 
after  ineligible.  It  has  became  a  matter  of  custom  only,  that  no 
president  shall  continue  in  office  more  than  two  terms.  In  the 
convention,  Mr.  Madison  and  Gen.  Washington  almost  invariably 
coincided  in  opinion.  At  length  the  Constitution  was  formed,  and 
was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  eighty-nine  to  seventy-nine.  It  was  then 
to  be  presented  to  the  several  States  for  acceptance.  Very  great 
solicitude  was  felt.     Should  it  be  rejected,  we  should  be  left  but  a 


JAMES  MADISON.  155 

conglomeration  of  independent  States,  with  but  little  power  at  home, 
and  little  respect  abroad.  Mr.  Madison  was  selected  by  the  conven- 
tion to  draw  up  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  ex- 
pounding the  principles  of  the  Constitution,  and  urging  its  adoption. 

In  every  State,  there  was  a  battle  between  the  friends  and  the 
foes  of  the  new  Constitution ;  but  at  length  it  triumphed  over  all 
opposition,  and  went,  into  effect  in  1789.  In  Virginia,  it  encoun- 
tered very  formidable  hostility ;  but  Mr.  Madison's  brilliant  states- 
manship and  persuasive  powers  secured  its  unconditional  ratifica- 
tion, notwithstanding  it  was  opposed  by  the  brilliant  rhetoric  of 
Patrick  Henry  and  the  stern  logic  of  George  Mason.  He  was 
soon  after  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the 
First  Congress,  which  then  met  in  the  old  City  Hall  in  New  York, 
at  the  corner  of  Wall  and  Nassau  Streets.  Here  he  found  himself 
drifting  to  the  side  of  the  Republican  party  in  nearly  all  its 
measures ;  and  yet  so  courteous  was  he  in  his  manners,  so  con- 
ciliatory in  tone,  and  so  undeniably  conscientious  in  his  convic- 
tions, that  he  retained  the  affection  and  confidence  of  his  former 
friends. 

Upon  Mr.  Jefferson's  return  from  France,  President  Washington 
earnestly  solicited  Mr.  Madison  to  accept  that  mission ;  but  he 
firmly  declined  the  appointment,  and  also  the  office  of  Secretary  of 
State,  which  was  urged  upon  him.  He  had  gradually  become  so 
identified  with  the  Republican  party  in  his  principles,  that  he  felt 
that  he  could  not  harmoniously  co-operate  with  the  majority  of 
Washington's  cabinet.  In  1792,  Mr.  Madison  was  the  avowed 
leader  of  the  Republican  party  in  Congress.  He  sympathized  with 
Mr.  Jefferson  in  his  foreign  policy,  gratefully  cherishing  the  re- 
membrance of  French  intervention  in  our  behalf,  and  advocating 
with  all  his  powers  of  voice  and  pen  a  retaliatory  policy  towards 
the  conduct  of  Great  Britain. 

When  President  Washington  was  about  to  retire  from  his  second 
term  of  office  in  1797,  it  was  the  wish  of  many  that  Mr.  Madison 
should  be  the  candidate  of  the  Republican  party.  Mr.  Jefferson 
wrote,  — 

"  There  is  not  another  person  in  the  United  States,  with  whom, 
being  placed  at  the  helm  of  our  affairs,  my  mind  would  be  so  com- 
pletely at  rest  for  the  fortune  of  our  political  bark." 

But  Mr.  Madison  would  not  consent.  His  term  in  Congress  had 
now  ^expired,  and  he  returned  from  New  York  to  his  beautiful 


156  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

retreat  at  Montpelier.  While  in  Congress,  he  had  met,  in  the  gay 
society  of  New  York,  a  young  widow  of  remarkable  powers  of 
fascination,  —  Mrs.  Todd.  Her  maiden  name  was  Dolly  Paine. 
She  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  of  Quaker  parents,  and  had  been 
educated  in  the  strictest  rules  of  that  sect.  When  but  eighteen 
years  of  age,  she  married  a  young  lawyer,  and  moved  to  Philadel- 
phia, where  she  was  introduced  to  brilliant  scenes  of  fashionable 
life.  She  speedily  laid  aside  the  dress  and  the  address  of  the 
Quakeress,  and  became  one  of  the  most  fascinating  ladies  who  has 
embellished  our  republican  court.  In  New  York,  after  the  death 
of  her  husband,  she  was  the  belle  of  the  season,  and  was  sur- 
rounded with  admirers.  Mr.  Madison  won  the  prize.  They  were 
married  in  1794.     He  was  then  forty-three  years  of  age. 

He  had  previously  met  with  a  serious  disappointment  in  his 
affections.  Some  years  before,  in  Philadelphia,  he  had  become 
ardently  attached  to  Miss  Floyd,  of  New  York,  the  accomplished 
daughter  of  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
For  some  unexplained  reason,  the  attachment,  which  seemed  to  be 
mutual,  was  broken  off,  to  the  great  grief  of  Mr.  Madison. 

The  companion  whom  Mr.  Madison  had  secured  at  this  late 
hour  of  life  proved  invaluable.  She  was,  in  person  and  character, 
queenly.  As  graceful  as  Josephine,  with  a  heart  overflowing  with 
kindness,  endowed  with  wonderful  powers  of  conversation,  per- 
suasion, and  entertainment,  and  with  a  face  whose  frankness  and 
winning  smiles  at  sight  won  all  hearts,  she  contributed  greatly  to 
the  popularity  and  power  of  her  husband  in  the  elevated  sphere 
through  which  he  afterwards  moved. 

As,  in  the  case  of  Napoleon,  all  who  wished  for  special  favors 
felt  safe  if  they  could  secure  the  advocacy  of  Josephine ;  so  it 
was  found,  that,  through  Mrs.  Madison,  one  could  ever  obtain  the 
readiest  access  to  the  heart  of  her  distinguished  husband.  She 
was  a  true  and  sympathizing  friend  of  all  who  were  in  sorrow. 
Mr.  Catlin,  the  renowned  delineator  of  Indian  life,  when  a  young 
man,  just  after  his  marriage,  was  in  Virginia,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Mr.  Madison's  home,  endeavoring  to  earn  a  living  by  painting 
portraits.  He  was  poor,  a  stranger,  in  a  cheerless  inn,  and  his 
young  wife  was  taken  sick  with  the  intermittent  fever.  Their 
situation  was  desolate  indeed.  But  soon  a  lady  of  wonderfully 
prepossessing  appearance  and  manners  entered  the  chamber, 
apologized  gracefully  for  the  intrusion,  introduced  herself  as  Mrs. 


JAMES  MADISON.  157 

Madison,  and,  taking  off  bonnet  and  shawl,  sat  down  by  the  bed- 
side  of  the  sick  one,  cheered  her  with  words  of  hope,  administered 
the  medicines,  and  from  that  hour,  with  a  sister's  tenderness, 
watched  over  her,  and  supplied  her  with  comforts  and  luxuries^ 
until  she  was  quite  recovered. 

In  Washington,  she  was  the  life  of  society.  A  group  of  the 
young  were  ever  gathered  around  her.  If  there  were  any  diffi- 
dent, timid  young  girl  just  making  her  appearance,  she  was  sure 
to  find  in  Mrs.  Madison  a  supporting  and  encouraging  friend. 
Probably  no  lady  has  thus  far  occupied  so  prominent  a  position  in 
the  very  peculiar  society  which  has  constituted  our  republican 
court  as  Mrs.  Madison. 

At  Montpelier,  in  this  brief  season  of  retirement  from  the  cares 
of  office,  Mr.  Madison  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  almost  every  bless- 
ing earth  can  confer.  His  opulence  enabled  him  to  indulge  in 
unbounded  hospitality,  and  his  celebrity  drew  to  his  mansion  dis- 
tinguished guests  from  all  lands.  Mr.  Madison,  though  a  vein  of 
pleasantry  was  intertwined  with  his  nature,  was  naturally  reserved 
and  formal.  Mrs.  Madison  was  the  charm  and  the  life  of  every 
social  circle  in  which  she  appeared.  The  happy  and  harmonious 
household  was  truly  blessed  by  the  presence  of  the  widowed  mothers 
of  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Madison,  and  two  orphan  sisters  of  Mrs.  Mad- 
ison. Prosperity,  love,  distinction,  all  lent  their  charms  to  gild 
the  scenes  of  this  favored  Virginian  home. 

At  the  time  when  Mr.  Madison  retired  from  Congress,  the  con- 
dition of  our  country  was  very  critical.  The  Jacobinical  Direc- 
tory in  France,  which  Napoleon  afterwards  overthrew,  was  fast 
sundering  the  ties  of  gratitude  which  bound  us  to  that  nation ; 
and  England,  proud  mistress  of  the  seas,  despising  our  infant 
navy,  was  treating  us  with  indignities  which  America  would  not 
now  submit  to  for  a  single  hour.  The  Federalists  had  far  more 
dread  of  France  than  of  England,  and  were  inclined  to  combine 
with  England  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  French  Revolution. 
They  called  the  Republicans  Jacobins.  Party  spirit  ran  so  high, 
that,  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  all  social  intercourse  between 
Federalists  and  Republicans  was  broken  up  :  even  the  children  of 
the  opposing  parties  were  not  allowed  freely  to  associate  with 
each  other.  The  wildest  tales  were  circulated  through  the  coun- 
try, that  the  French  Jacobins  were  coming  over  to  co-operate  with 
the  Republicans,  and  overthrow  our  government.     It  is  scarcely 


158  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS, 

possible  for  the  people  of  the  present  day  to  realize  the  frenzy  of 
that  delirium. 

Under  its  influence,  in  the  early  days  of  Mr.  John  Adams's  ad- 
ministration, two  acts  were  passed,  called  "  Alien  and  Sedition 
Laws."  By  these  laws,  the  President  was  authorized,  in  case  of 
war,  made  or  threatened,  to  imprison,  banish,  or  place  under  bonds, 
at  his  discretion,  any  natives  or  subjects  of  the  hostile  power  not 
actually  naturalized ;  and  also  it  was  decreed,  that  any  one,  who 
should  unlawfully  conspire  to  oppose  any  measure  of  the  United- 
States  Government,  should  be  punished,  on  legal  conviction,  by 
.fine  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  not 
exceeding  five  years. 

It  was  generally  understood  that  these  acts  were  aimed  at  the 
Repubhcan  party,  who  were  in  sympathy  with  that  equality  of  rights 
which  the  French  Revolution  was  struggling  to  introduce,  and  who 
were  opposing  bitterly,  and  sometimes  with  measures  of  doubtful 
legality,  the  administration  of  our  government.  These  laws  were 
vehemently  denounced.  They  contributed  greatly  to  John  Adams's 
unpopularity.  To  add  to  the  excitement,  a  bill  was  introduced 
into  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  by  Mr.  Lloyd  of  Maryland, 
which  passed  to  a  second  reading  by  a  vote  of  fourteen  to  eight, 
declaring  the  people  of  France  to  be  enemies  of  the  United  States, 
and  adherence  to  them,  or  giving  them  aid  and  comfort,  punishable 
with  death. 

Mr.  Jefierson  was  so  roused  by  these  measures,  that  he  drew 
up  some  resolutions,  the  authorship  of  which  was  for  many  years 
kept  secret,  but  which  were  adopted  by  the  Legislature  of  Ken- 
tucky, so  determined  in  their  character,  that  his  enemies  have 
charged  him  with  advocating  nullification  and  violent  resistance. 
Mr.  Madison,  though  repudiating  every  thing  like  nullification, 
drew  up  resolutions,  which  were  carried  by  a  large  majority 
through  the  Virginia  Legislature,  denouncing  the  acts  with  great 
severity.  The  legislatures  of  other  States,  however,  warmly 
supported  the  acts  as  both  constitutional  and  needful.  Mr.  Mad- 
ison's writings  upon  this  subject  are  by  all  admitted  to  exhibit 
masterly  vigor;  and,  in  their  advocacy  of  a  "  strict  construction" 
of  the  Constitution,  they  became  the  text-book  of  his  party. 

But  the  storm  passed  away.  The  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  were 
repealed.  John  Adams  lost  his  re-election.  Thomas  Jefferson 
was  chosen  President  in  1801,  and  the  Republicans  came  into 


JAMES  MADISON.  159 

power.  The  new  President  immediately  appointed  his  friend, 
Mr.  Madison,  Secretary  of  State.  With  great  ability  he  discharged 
the  duties  of  this  onerous  and  responsible  office  during  the  whole 
eight  years  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  administration.  This  summoned  him 
from  his  happy  home  in  Virginia  to  Washington. 

As  Mr.  Jefferson  was  a  widower,  and  neither  of  his  daughters 
could  be  often  with  him,  Mrs.  Madison  usually  presided  over  the 
festivities  of  the  White  House  ;  and  as  her  husband  succeeded 
Mr.  Jefferson,  holding  his  office  for  two  terms,  this  very  remark- 
able woman  was,  in  reality,  the  mistress  of  the  presidential  mansion 
for  sixteen  years.  The  White  House,  our  republican  palace,  was 
then  a  very  shabby  affair.  The  building,  but  half  completed, 
stood  in  a  pasture  of  old  oaks,  surrounded  by  rough  masses  of 
stone  and  piles  of  lumber,  and  other  accumulations  of  unsightly 
materials.  It  was,  indeed,  solitary  and  alone,  looking  far  more 
like  an  abandoned  ruin  than  a  rising  palace. 

Far  away  in  the  distance  stood  the  Capitol  Hill,  surrounded  by 
groves,  forests,  and  wide-spreading  plains,  with  a  few  houses  or 
huts  scattered  here  and  there  at  most  unsocial  distances.  The 
crowd  which  flocked  to  Washington  from  our  widely  extended 
and  rapidly  increasing  country  came  with  all  their  provincial 
peculiarities.  It  was  a  motley  throng.  But  wonderful  harmony 
pervaded  Mr.  Jefferson's  cabinet.  "  We  were,"  he  writes,  "  one 
family."  The  stately  forms  of  etiquette  which  were  congenial 
to  the  tastes  of  Presidents  Washington  and  Adams  were  now  laid 
aside,  and  the  simplicity  of  private  life  reigned  in  the  presidential 
mansion. 

Mr.  Madison  being  entirely  engrossed  by  the  cares  of  his  office, 
all  the  duties  of  social  life  devolved  upon  his  accomplished  wife. 
Never  were  such  responsibilities  more  ably  and  delightfully  dis- 
charged. Every  visitor  left  her  with  the  impression  of  having 
been  the  object  of  peculiar  attention  as  an  especial  favorite.  She 
never  forgot  a  face  or  a  name.  The  most  bitter  foes  of  her  hus- 
band and  of  the  administration  were  received  with  the  frankly 
proffered  hand  and  the  cordial  smile  of  welcome.  Thib  was  not 
policy  merely :  it  was  the  resistless  outflowing  of  her  own  loving 
nature.  Her  house  was  plainly  furnished  ;  her  dress,  though  ele- 
gant, simple ;  and  the  influence  of  this  gentle  woman,  in  allaying 
the  bitterness  of  party  rancor,  became  a  great  and  salutary  power 
in  the  nation. 


160  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Mr.  Madison's  correspondence,  while  Secretary  of  State,  with 
foreign  ambassadors  and  our  ministers  at  foreign  courts,  constitute 
a  very  important  part  of  the  history  of  President  Jefferson's  ad- 
ministration. There  is  not  any  nation  which  can  exhibit  a  more  able 
series  of  state-papers  than  came  from  his  pen. 

It  is  the  genius  of  our  country  to  reject  pompous  titles :  we 
have  laid  them  aside  with  the  powdered  wigs  and  scarlet  coats  of 
other  days.  But  no  other  land  can  exhibit  a  more  brilliant  catar 
logue  of  truly  great  men,  —  of  Nature's  noblemen.  Washington, 
Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  a  host  of  others  in  the  galaxy  of 
American  worthies,  have  a  fame  more  durable  than  sculptured 
marble,  or  molten  brass,  or  monumental  granite.  Theirs  is  a  no- 
bility not  of  hereditary  descent,  and  mouldy  parchments,  and  un- 
earned laurels,  but  a  nobility  of  heroic  achievement,  which  shall 
be  recognized  through  all  the  ages,  and,  like  the  untitled  stars, 
shall  shine  forever. 

As  the  term  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  presidency  drew  near  its  close, 
party  rancor  was  roused  to  the  utmost  in  the  strife  to  elect  his 
successor.  It  was  like  a  death-grapple  between  the  two  great 
parties,  the  Federal  and  the  Republican.  Mr.  Madison  was  not  an 
emotional  man.  He  stood,  like  the  peak  of  Teneriffe  in  a  storm, 
undisturbed  by  the  howl  of  the  gale  and  the  dash  of  the  wave.' 
Strong  in  honesty  which  he  knew  to  be  unimpeachable,  he  con- 
templated, in  imperturbable  serenity,  assaults  of  the  press  which 
would  have  driven  many  men  frantic.  Mrs.  Madison,  in  accordance 
with  her  husband's  wishes,  continued  to  exercise  the  rites  of  hos- 
pitality without  regard  to  party  politics.  The  chiefs  of  the  differ- 
ent parties  met  in  her  parlor,  and  all  alike  shared  in  the  smiles 
and  kindly  greetings  which  made  that  parlor  so  attractive. 

The  unintelligent  are  easily  deceived  by  tinsel.  Even  in  our 
land,  where  education  was  so  generally  diffused,  the  barbers  of 
Washington  judged  of  the  merits  of  great  men  by  the  length  of 
their  cues  and  the  amount  of  powder  on  their  hair.  The  morning 
after  Mr.  Madison  was  nominated  for  President,  a  barber  in  Wash- 
ington, addressing  a  senator  whom  he  was  shaving,  said, — 

"  Surely  this  country  is  doomed  to  disgrace  and  ruin.  What 
Presidents  we  might  have,  sir!  Just  look  at  Daggett  of  Connecti- 
cut, and  Stockton  of  New  Jersey !  What  cues  they  have  got, 
sir !  as  big  as  your  wrist,  and  powdered  every  day,  like  real  gentle- 
men as  they  are.     Such  men  would  confer  dignity  on  the  station. 


JAMES  MADISON.  161 

But  this  little  Jim  Madison,  with  a  cue  no  bigger  than  a  pipe- 
etem,  sir,  —  it  is  enough  to  make  a  man  forswear  his  country  !  " 

Out  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  electoral  votes,  Mr.  Madi- 
son received  one  hundred  and  twenty-two,  and  with  this  handsome 
majority  took  his  seat  as  President  on  the  4th  of  March,  1809.  The 
encroachments  of  England  had  brought  us  to  the  verge  of  war. 
British  orders  in  council  destrayed  our  commerce,  and  our  flag 
was  exposed  to  constant  insult.  The  British  minister,  Mr.  Er- 
skine,  who  was  disposed  to  be  conciliatory,  was  recalled,  and  a 
Mr.  Jackson,  a  man  of  insolent  address,  was  sent  to  occupy  his 
place.  He  became  so  unbearable,  that  the  Secretary  of  State  was 
directed  to  hold  no  further  communication  with  him,  and  the  Brit- 
ish Government  was  requested  to  withdraw  him.  This  was  done  ; 
but  no  one  was  sent  in  his  place.  Congress,  in  its  extreme  dis- 
pleasure, passed  a  resolution  declaring  the  official  communications 
of  Mr.  Jackson  as  having  been  highly  indecorous  and  insolent, 
approving  the  conduct  of  the  Executive  in  requesting  his  recall, 
and  passing  an  act  of  non-intercourse  with  both  England  and 
France,  —  with  the  latter  power  in  consequence  of  the  Berlin  and 
Milan  decrees.  Napoleon  immediately  revoked  those  decrees,  send- 
ing word  to  our  Government  that  they  had  not  been  issued  out  of 
any  unfriendly  feeling  to  us,  but  as  a  necessary  measure  of  retal- 
iation against  the  atrocious  orders  in  council  which  England  had 
issued. 

The  act  of  non-intercourse  now  remained  in  full  force  against 
England  alone.  Mr.  Madison  was  a  man  of  peace.  Scholarly  in 
his  tastes,  retiring  in  his  disposition,  war  had  no  charms  for  him. 
But  the  meekest  spirit  can  be  roused.  It  makes  one's  blood  boil, 
even  now,  to  think  of  an  American  ship  brought  to,  upon  the  ocean, 
by  the  guns  of  an  English  cruiser.  A  young  lieutenant  steps  on 
board,  and  orders  the  crew  to  be  paraded  before  him.  With  great 
nonchalance,  he  selects  any  number  whom  he  may  please  to  desig- 
nate as  British  subjects  ;  orders  them  down  the  ship's  side  into 
his  boat ;  and  places  them  on  the  gun-deck  of  his  man-of-war,  to 
fight,  by  compulsion,  the  battles  of  England.  This  right  of  search 
and  impressment  no  efibrts  of  our  Government  could  induce  the 
British  cabinet  to  relinquish. 

There  was  a  popular  meeting  held  in  the  city  of  New  York  on 
the  26th  of  April,  1806 ;  when  the  resolution  was  unanimously 
passed;  "  That  the  suffering  foreign  armed  ships  to  station  them- 

21 


162 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


selves  off  our  harbor,  and  there  to  stop,  search,  and  capture  our 
vessels,  to  impress,  wound,  and  murder  our  citizens,  is  a  gross  and 
criminal  neglect  of  the  highest  duties  of  government ;  and  that  an 
administration  which  patiently  permits  the  same  is  not  entitled  to 
the  confidence  of  a  brave  and  free  people." 


BRITISH    KIGHT    OK    SEARCH. 


Where  resistance  was  attempted,  the  impressment  was  con. 
ducted  with  unsparing  severity.  The  cudgel  and  the  cutlass  were 
freely  used.  Those  who  refused  to  submit  were  scourged,  placed 
in  irons,  and  scourged  again  on  the  raw  wounds  until  they  suc- 
cumbed. It  was  proved  by  official  records  that  more  than  a  thou- 
»^and  American  citizens  were  thus  torn  from  home  and  friends, 
many  of  whom  were  compelled  for  years  to  man  British  guns,  and 
were  thus  forced,  when  the  war  between  the  United  States  and 
England  was  opened,  to  fight  against  their  own  flag.  No  govern- 
ment could  be  worthy  of  respect  which  would  not  at  least  attempt 
to  protect  its  citizens  from  such  outrages. 

The  following  case  illustrates  that  of  hundreds.  Hiram  Thayer 
was  born  in  Greenwich,  Conn.     He  was  a  young  man  of  sobriety, 


JAMES  MADISON.  1G3 

industry,  high  moral  worth,  and  was  greatly  endeared  to  his 
friends.  He  was  impressed  in  1803,  with  barbarity  which  would 
have  disgraced  an  Algerine  courser.  For  five  years,  in  the  war 
which  England  was  then  waging  against  France,  he  was  compelled 
to  serve  the  British  cannon.  In  1805,  he  was  transferred  on  board 
the  British  frigate  "  Statira."  In  reply  to  his  remonstrances,  he  was 
told,  that,  if  he  were  not  submissive  and  obedient,  "  he  should  be 
tied  to  the  mast,  and  shot  at  like  a  dog."  He  contrived  to  get  a 
letter  to  his  father.  His  friends  exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost 
to  obtain  his  release.  Gen.  Lyman,  the  American  consul  at  Lon- 
don, applied  to  the  Lords  Commissioners  in  vain  for  his  discharge. 
Certificates  of  his  nativity  were  exhibited  from  the  selectmen, 
town-clerk,  and  parish  minister  of  his  native  town. 

Still  he  was  held  in  British  slavery  all  through  our  second  war 
with  England,  compelled  to  fight  against  his  own  countrymen.  On 
the  14th  of  March,  1814,  Commodore  Decatur  sent  the  father,  under 
a  flag  of  truce,  on  board  "  The  Statira,"  which  was  then  one  of  the 
British  blockading  squadron  off  New  London.  Commodore  Deca- 
tur sent  with  the  flag  a  note  to  Capt.  Capel  of  "  The  Statira,"  saying 
"  that  he  felt  persuaded  that  the  application  of  the  father,  furnished 
as  he  was  with  conclusive  evidence  of  the  nativity  and  identity  of 
his  son,  would  induce  an  immediate  order  for  his  discharge."  The 
interview  between  the  father  and  the  son,  after  eleven  years  of 
separation,  was  most  a9"ecting.  There  was  not  a  doubt,  in  the 
mind  of  a  single  British  officer,  of  Hiram  Thayer's  being  an  Amer- 
ican citizen ;  but  they  refused  to  release  him,  alleging  simply 
that  they  had  no  authority  to  do  so.  The  unhappy  man  was  still 
detained  in  this  slavery,  as  atrocious  as  ever  disgraced  a  Cuban 
plantation.  Not  long  after  this,  he  fell  overboard,  and  was  drowned. 
A  trunk  containing  portions  of  his  clothing  were  the  only  memo- 
rials of  their  loved  son  which  were  ever  returned  to  his  afiiicted 
parents. 

On  the  18th  of  June,  1812,  President  Madison  gave  his  approval 
to  an  act  of  Congress  declaring  war  against  Great  Britain.  Not- 
withstanding the  bitter  hostility  of  the  Federal  party  to  the  war, 
the  country  in  general  approved ;  and  Mr.  Madison,  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1813,  was  re-elected  by  a  large  majority,  and  entered  upon 
his  second  term  of  office.  This  is  not  the  place  to  describe  the 
various  adventures  of  this  war  on  the  land  and  on  the  water.  Our 
infant  navy  then  laid  the  foundations  of  its  renown  in  grappling 


l64  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

with  the  most  formidable  power  which  ever  swept  the  seas.  Tho 
contest  commenced  in  earnest  by  the  appearance  of  a  British  fleet, 
early  in  February,  1813,  in  Chesapeake  Bay,  declaring  nearly  the 
whole  coast  of  the  United  States  under  blockade. 

The  Emperor  of  Russia  offered  his  services  as  mediator.  Amer- 
ica accepted  ;  England  refused.  A  British  force  of  five  thousand 
men  landed  on  the  banks  of  the  Patuxent  River,  near  its  entrance 
into  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  marched  rapidly,  by  way  of  Bladens- 
burg,  upon  Washington.  There  was  no  suflScient  force  in  the 
vicinity  to  resist  them.  Gen.  Winder  was  in  command  of  a  few 
regular  troops  and  some  regiments  of  militia. 

The  straggling  little  city  of  Washington  was  thrown  into  con- 
sternation. The  cannon  of  the  brief  conflict  at  Bladensburg  echoed 
through  the  streets  of  the  metropolis.  The  whole  population  fled 
from  the  city.  The  President,  leaving  Mrs.  Madison  in  the  White 
House,  with  her  carriage  drawn  up  at  the  door  to  await  his  speedy 
return,  hurried  to  meet  the  officers  in  a  council  of  war.  He  met 
our  troops  utterly  routed,  and  could  not  go  back  without  danger 
of  being  captured.  She  writes  to  her  sister,  under  date  of  Wednes- 
day, Aug.  12,  1814,  twelve  o'clock  at  noon,  — 

"  Since  sunrise,  I  have  been  turning  my  spy-glass  in  every 
direction,  and  watching  with  unwearied  anxiety,  hoping  to  discern 
the  near  approach  of  my  dear  husband  and  his  friends ;  but,  alas  ! 
I  can  descry  only  groups  of  military  wandering  in  all  directions, 
as  if  there  was  a  lack  of  arms,  or  of  spirit  to  fight  for  their  own 
firesides. 

"  Three  o^clock. — Will  you  believe  it,  my  sister?  we  have  had  a 
battle,  or  skirmish,  near  Bladensburg  ;  and  I  am  still  here,  within 
sound  of  the  cannon.  Mr.  Madison  comes  not :  may  God  protect 
him  !  Two  messengers,  covered  with  dust,  came  to  bid  me  fly ; 
but  I  wait  for  Wm.  At  this  late  hour,  a  wagon  has  been  procured. 
I  have  had  it  filled  with  the  plate  and  the  most  valuable  portable 
articles  belonging  to  the  house.  Whether  it  will  reach  its  desti- 
nation, —  the  Bank  of  Maryland,  —  or  fall  into  the  hands  of  British 
soldiery,  events  must  determine.'' 

But  a  few  hours  elapsed  ere  the  Presidential  Mansion,  the  Capitol, 
and  all  the  public  buildings  in  Washington,  were  in  flames.  A 
few  months  after  this  great  humiliation,  the  British  made  an 
attempt  upon  New  Orleans.  They  were  repulsed  by  Gen.  Jack- 
sou  with  great  slaughter.    Napoleon  was  now  overpowered.    The 


JAMES  MADISON.  165 

allied  despots  were  triumphant,  and,  assembled  in  Congress  at 
Vienna,  were  partitioning  out  the  re-enslaved  nations  of  Europe 
between  them.  Their  one  great  object  was  so  to  divide  Europe, 
that  the  people  should  not  again  have  the  opportunity  to  rise 
against  the  old  regimes  of  tyranny.  Truthfully  does  "  The  British 
Quarterly  "  say,  — 

"The  treaties  of  Vienna  of  1815,  though  the  most  desperate 
efforts  have  been  made  by  the  English  diplomatists  to  embalm 
them  as  monuments  of  political  wisdom,  are  fast  becoming  as  dead 
as  those  of  Westphalia.  In  fact,  they  should  be  got  under  ground 
with  all  possible  despatch ;  for  no  compacts  so  worthless,  so 
wicked,  so  utterly  subversive  of  the  rights  of  humanity,  are  to  be 
found  in  the  annals  of  nations." 

England  was  the  leading  power  in  this  Congress.  The  British 
cabinet,  flushed  with  victory,  was  never  more  arrogant  than  then. 
England  was  now  prepared  to  turn  her  whole  immense  armament 
against  our  country.  We  were  sadly  divided  among  ourselves.  The 
New-England  States  were  so  hostile  to  the  war,  as  seriously  to 
embari'ass  the  Government.  Never  was  our  country  enveloped  in 
deeper  gloom.  Commissioners  had  been  sent  to  Ghent  to  obtain 
peace  with  the  British  crown,  if  it  could  possibly  be  obtained  on 
any  reasonable  terms. 

About  noon  of  the  13th  of  February,  1815,  a  strange  rumor  was 
found  floating  through  Washington,  —  that  a  treaty  of  peace  had 
been  signed  at  Ghent.  Gathering  strength  as  it  flew,  the  whole 
city  was  soon  in  a  state  of  the  most  intense  excitement.  Whence 
came  the  story,  no  one  could  satisfactorily  tell.  At  length,  after 
diligent  inquiring,  it  appeared  that  a  private  express  had  rapidly 
passed  through  the  city,  bearing  the  important  tidings  to  merchants 
in  the  South.  Still  it  was  but  a  rumor.  Mr.  Gales,  editor  of  "  The 
National  Intelligencer,"  anxious  to  obtain  some  reliable  informa- 
tion upon  an  event  so  momentous,  called  upon  President  Madison. 
He  found  him  sitting  alone,  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  apparently 
pondering  the  prodigious  change  which  the  news,  if  true,  would 
produce  in  public  affairs. 

The  President,  always  affable,  never  excited,  was  inclined  to 
credit  the  report.  He  knew  that  mercantile  zeal  might  outrun 
political  ardor.  His  manner  was  so  composed,  his  spirits  so  tran- 
quil and  unruffled,  that  one  not  acquainted  with  his  perfect  power 
over  himself  might  have  supposed  it  a  matter  of  much  indifference 
to  him  whether  the  report  were  true  or  false. 


166  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Information  then,  when  there  were  neither  railroads  nor  tele- 
graph wires,  travelled  slowly.  It  was  not  until  late  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  next  day,  that  a  coach,  drawn  by  four  foaming  horses, 
came  thundering  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  with  official  commu 
nication  of  the  glad  tidings.  What  pen  can  describe  the  excite- 
ment of  that  hour,  as  cheers  burst  from  all  lips  ?  The  drawing-room 
at  the  President's  mansion  was  speedily  thronged.  Mrs.  Madison 
was  there,  radiant  with  joy,  the  President  being  absent  with  his 
cabinet.  In  a  moment,  to  use  the  expressive  phrase  of  John 
Adams,  the  country  had  passed  from  "  gloom  to  glory.'" 

No  one  rejoiced  more  heartily  than  did  President  Madison.  It 
had  been  with  the  utmost  reluctance  that  he  had  been  forced  into 
a  war.  England  did  not  relinquish  her  claitn  of  the  "  right  of 
search  ;  ■''  but,  as  there  was  peace  in  Europe,  there  was  no  longer 
any  motive  to  continue  the  practice.  It  was,  of  course,  inexpedient 
for  the  United  States  to  persist  in  the  war  for  a  mere  abstraction. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  Great  Britain  will  never  again  undertake  to 
drag  a  man  from  the  protecting  folds  of  the  stars  and  stripes. 
Americans  of  all  coming  ages  will  revere  the  memory  of  James 
Madison  for  resisting  such  wrongs.  ''  I  am  an  American  citizen  '' 
will  henceforth  be  an  argument  which  will  command  the  respect 
of  the  world. 

On  the  Jrtli  of  March,  1817,  his  second  tenn  of  office  expired, 
and  he  resigned  the  presidential  chair  to  his  friend  James  Monroe. 
Happy  in  his  honorable  release  from  the  cares  of  state,  he  retired 
to  the  leisure  and  repose  of  his  beautiful  retreat  at  Montpelier. 
He  was  within  a  day's  ride  of  Monticello,  and  was  thus,  in  the  esti- 
mation of  a  Virginian,  a  near  neighbor  of  Mr.  JeflPerson.  Here,  in 
his  paternal  home,  imbosomed  among  the  hills,  a  victor  in  life's 
stern  battle,  he  passed  peacefully  the  remainder  of  his  days. 

The  mansion  was  large  and  commodious,  situated  at  the  base  of 
a  high  and  wooded  hill.  A  fine  garden  behind  the  house,  and  a 
spacious  lawn  in  front,  contributed  their  embellishments  to  the 
rural  scene,  where  over  countless  acres  the  undulating  expanse 
was  covered  with  the  primeval  forest.  The  venerable  mother  of 
Mr.  Madison  still  resided  with  her  son,  the  object  of  his  unceasing 
and  most  affectionate  attentions.  One  wing  of  the  mansion  was 
appropriated  to  her. 

••  By  only  opening  a  door,"  writes  a  visitor,  '*'  the  observer  passed 
from  the  elegances,  refinements,  and  gayeties  of  modern  life,  into 


JAMES  MADISON.  167 

all  that  was  venerable,  respectable,  and  dignified  in  gone-by  days } 
from  the  airy  apartments,  windows  opening  to  the  ground,  hung 
with  light  silken  drapery,  French  furniture,  light  fancy  chairs,  gay 
carpets,  to  the  solid  and  heavy  carved  and  polished  mahogany 
furniture  darkened  by  age,  the  thick,  rich  curtains,  and  other  more 
comfortable  adjustments,  of  our  great-grandfathers'  times." 

Mr,  Madison's  health  was  delicate.  He  was  much  beloved  by 
his  neighbors  and  friends;  and,  though  his  union  had  not  been 
blessed  with  children,  his  accomplished  and  amiable  wife  was  ever 
to  him  a  source  of  the  greatest  happiness.  Nineteen  years  of  life 
still  remained  to  him.  He  seldom  left  his  home,  though  he  took 
much  interest  in  the  agricultural  prosperity  of  the  country,  and  very 
cordially  co-operated  with  President  Jefferson  in  watching  over 
the  afiairs  of  the  university  at  Charlottesville. 

In  1829,  he  consented  to  become  a  member  of  the  convention 
at  Richmond  to  revise  the  Constitution  of  the  State.  Small  in 
stature,  slender  and  delicate  in  form,  with  a  countenance  full  of 
intelligence,  and  expressive  alike  of  mildness  and  dignity,  he 
attracted  the  attention  of  all  who  attended  the  convention,  and  was 
treated  with  the  utmost  deference.  He  seldom  addressed  the 
assembly,  though  he  always  appeared  self-possessed,  and  watched 
with  unflagging  interest  the  progress  of  every  measure.  Though 
the  convention  sat  for  sixteen  weeks,  he  spoke  but  twice ;  but, 
when  he  did  speak,  the  whole  house  paused  to  listen.  His  voice 
was  feeble,  though  the  enunciation  was  very  distinct.  One  of  the 
reporters  —  Mr.  Stansbury  —  relates  the  following  anecdote,  of 
the  last  speech  he  made.  Having  carefully  written  out  the  speech, 
he  sent  the  manuscript  to  President  Madison  for  his  revision. 

"  The  next  day,  as  there  was  a  great  call  for  it,  and  the  report 
had  not  been  returned  for  publication,  I  sent  my  son  with  a 
respectful  note,  requesting  the  manuscript.  My  son  was  a  lad  of 
about  sixteen,  whom  I  had  taken  with  me  to  act  as  amanuensis. 
On  delivering  my  note,  he  was  received  with  the  utmost  politeness, 
and  requested  to  come  up  into  Mr.  Madison's  chamber,  and  wait 
while  he  ran  his  eye  over  the  paper,  as  company  had,  until  that 
moment,  prevented  his  attending  to  it.  He  did  so ;  and  Mr. 
Madison  sat  down,  pen  in  hand,  to  correct  the  report.  The  lad 
stood  near  him,  so  that  his  eye  fell  on  the  paper.  Coming  to  a 
certain  sentence  in  the  speech,  Mr.  Madison  struck  out  a  word, 
and  substituted  another ;  but  hesitated,  and,  not  feeling  quit« 
satisfied  with  the  second  word,  drew  his  pen  through  it  also. 


168  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"My  son  was  young,  ignorant  of  the  world,  and  unconscious  of 
the  solecism  of  which  he  was  about  to  be  guilty,  when,  in  all  sim- 
phcity,  he  suggested  a  word.  Yes,  he  ventured,  boy  that  he  was, 
to  suggest  to  James  Madison  an  improvement  in  his  own  speech ! 
Probably  no  other  individual  then  living  would  have  taken  such  a 
liberty.  But  the  sage,  instead  of  regarding  such  an  intrusion  with 
a  frown,  raised  his  eyes  to  the  boy's  face  with  a  pleased  surprise, 
and  said,  '  Thank  you,  sir ;  it  is  the  very  word,'  and  immediately 
inserted  it.  I  saw  him  the  next  day,  and  he  mentioned  the  cir- 
cumstance, with  a  compliment  on  the  young  critic." 

On  the  28th  of  June,  1836,  Mr.  Madison,  then  eighty-five  years 
of  age,  fell  asleep  in  death.  His  memory  is  embalmed  in  a  nation's 
veneration  and  gratitude.  Like  all  public  men,  exposed  to  much 
obloquy  in  his  political  life,  that  obloquy  has  now  so  passed  away, 
that  we  can  scarcely  believe  that  it  ever  existed.  In  a  glowing 
tribute  to  his  memory,  uttered  by  the  venerable  ex-President  John 
Quincy  Adams,  the  following  words,  eloquent  in  their  truthfulness, 
were  uttered :  — 

"  Of  that  band  of  benefactors  of  the  human  race,  the  founders  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  James  Madison  is  the  last 
who  has  gone  to  his  reward.  Their  glorious  work  has  survived 
them  all.  They  have  transmitted  the  precious  bond  to  us,  now 
entirely  a  succeeding  generation  to  them.  May  it  never  cease  to 
be  a  voice  of  admonition  to  us,  of  our  duty  to  transmit  the  inher- 
itance unimpaired  to  our  children  of  the  rising  age  !  " 

Mrs.  Madison  survived  her  husband  thirteen  years,  and  died  on 
the  12th  of  July,  1819,  in  the  eighty-second  year  of  her  age.  She 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  women  our  country  has  produced ; 
and  it  is  fitting  that  her  memory  should  descend  to  posterity  in 
company  with  that  of  the  companion  of  her  life. 


CHAPTER  V. 

JAMES     MONROE. 

Parentage  and  Birth.  —  Education.  —  Enters  the  Army.  —  A  Legislator.  —  A  Senator.  —  Po- 
litical Views.  — Mission  to  France.  — Bonaparte.  —  Purchase  of  Louisiana.  —  Unfriend- 
liness of  England.  —  Prospective  Greatness  of  America.  —  Washington's  Views  of  the 
French  Revolution.  —  Col.  Monroe  Governor.  —  Secretary  both  of  War  and  of  State.  — 
Elected  to  the  Presidency.  —  Northern  Tour.  —  Purchase  of  Spain.  —  Sympathy  with 
Revolutionary  Soldiers.  —  The  Monroe  Doctrine.  —  Retirement  and  Death. 

Many  years  ago,  there  was  a  hotly  contested  election  in  Vir- 
ginia, when  two  young  men,  James  Madison  and  James  Monroe, 


RESIDENCE   OF   JAJIES    MONROE. 


were  rival  candidates  for  some  local  office.  The  friends  of  both 
parties  were  exhausting  their  energies  to  bring  every  voter  to  the 
polls.     A  very  infirm  and  aged  man  was  transported  from  a  con- 

22  169 


170  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

siderable  distance,  in  a  wagon,  by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Madison.  As 
he  was  sitting  in  the  building,  waiting  for  his  opportunity  to  vote, 
the  name  of  James  Monroe  struck  his  half-paralyzed  ear.  He 
started  up,  and  inquired  if  James  Monroe  was  the  son  of  the  man 
of  that  name  who  some  years  ago  lived  and  died  in  the  province. 
Upon  being  told  that  he  was  the  grandson  of  that  person,  the  old 
man  exclaimed  with  emotion,  — 

"  Then  I  shall  vote  for  James  Monroe.  His  grandfather  be- 
friended me  when  I  first  came  into  the  country,  fed  me  and  clothed 
me,  and  I  lived  in  his  house.  I  do  not  know  James  Madison.  I 
shall  vote  for  James  Monroe." 

Virtues  seem  to  be  often  hereditary.  That  same  spirit  of  be- 
nevolence which  prompted  the  grandfather  to  feed  and  clothe  and 
shelter  the  child  of  want  descended  to  his  children  and  his  chil- 
dren's children.  The  Monroe  Family  were  among  the  first  who 
emigrated  to  this  country,  and  selected  their  home  in  what  is  now 
Westmoreland  County,  Va.,  —  that  beautiful  expanse  of  fertile 
land  which  is  spread  out  on  the  western  banks  of  the  Potomac. 
They  were  the  near  neighbors  of  the  Washington  Family;  and, 
being  the  owners  of  a  large  estate,  were  in  comparative  opulence. 

James  Monroe,  who  became  fifth  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  upon  his  father's  plantation  on  the  28th  of  April,  1758. 
At  that  time,  Virginia  presented  an  aspect  somewhat  resembling 
feudal  Europe  in  the  middle  ages.  Here  and  there,  in  wide  dis- 
persion, were  to  be  seen  the  aristocratic  mansions  of  the  planters, 
while  near  by  were  clustered  the  cheerless  hovels  of  the  poor  and 
debased  laborers.  There  were  intelligence,  culture,  luxury,  in  the 
saloons  of  the  master ;  debasement,  ignorance,  barbarism,  in  the 
cabin  of  the  slaves. 

James  Monroe,  in  childhood,  like  all  his  predecessors  thus  far 
in  the  presidential  chair,  enjoyed  all  the  advantages  of  educa- 
tion which  the  country  could  then  afford.  He  was  early  sent 
to  a  very  fine  classical  school,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  entered 
William  and  Mary  College.  It  was  his  intention  to  study  law. 
But  the  cloud  of  the  great  Revolution  which  sundered  the  colonies 
from  the  mother- country  was  gathering  blackness  ;  and  young 
Monroe,  an  earnest,  impetuous,  vigorous  youth,  whose  blood 
coursed  fiercely  through  his  veins,  could  not  resist  his  impatience 
to  become  an  active  participator  in  the  scenes  which  were  opening. 

In    1776,  when  he   had   been  in  college  but   two   years,   the 


JAMES  MONROE.  171 

Declaration  of  Independence  was  adopted,  and  our  feeble  militia, 
without  arras  or  ammunition  or  clothing,  were  struggling  against 
the  trained  armies  of  England.  James  Monroe  left  college,  has- 
tened to  Gen.  "Washington's  headquarters  at  New  York,  and  en- 
rolled himself  as  a  cadet  in  the  army. 

It  was  one  of  the  gloomiest  hours  in  our  history.  The  British 
were  sweeping  all  before  them.  Our  disheartened  troops  were  de- 
serting in  great  numbers;  and  the  Tories,  favoring  the  cause  of  Eng- 
land, were  daily  becoming  more  boastful  and  defiant.  But  James 
Monroe  belonged  to  the  class  of  the  indoinitable.  With  courage 
which  never  faltered,  he  took  his  place  in  the  ranks.  Firmly  yet 
sadly  he  shared  in  the  melancholy  retreat  from  Harlaem  Heights 
and  White  Plains,  and  accompanied  the  dispirited  army  as  it  fled 
before  its  foes  through  New  Jersey.  In  four  months  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  the  patriots  had  been  beaten  in  seven 
battles. 

At  Trenton,  Lieut.  Monroe  so  distinguished  himself,  receiving 
a  wound  in  his  shoulder,  that  he  was  promoted  to  a  captaincy. 
Upon  recovering  from  his  wound,  he  was  invited  to  act  as  aide  to 
Lord  Sterling ;  and  in  that  capacity  he  took  an  active  part  in  the 
battles  of  Brandywine,  Germantown,  and  Monmouth.  At  German- 
town,  he  stood  by  the  side  of  Lafayette  when  the  French  marquis 
received  his  wound.  Gen.  Washington,  who  had  formed  a  high  idea 
of  young  Monroe's  abilities,  sent  him  to  Virginia  to  raise  a  new 
regiment,  of  which  he  was  to  be  colonel ;  but  so  exhausted  was 
Virginia  at  that  time,  that  the  effort  proved  unsuccessful.  He,  how- 
ever, received  his  commission. 

Fiudhig  no  opportunity  to  enter  the  army  as  a  commissioned 
officer,  he  returned  to  his  original  plan  of  studying  law,  and 
entered  the  office  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  was  then  Governor 
of  Virginia.  Mr.  Jefferson  had  a  large  and  admirable  library,  and 
inspired  his  pupil  with  zeal  for  study.  He  developed  a  very  noble 
character,  frank,  manly,  sincere.  Abounding  with  kindliness  of  feel- 
ing, and  scorning  every  thing  ignoble,  he  won  the  love  of  all  who 
knew  him.    Mr.  Jefferson  said  of  him, — 

"  James  Monroe  is  so  perfectly  honest,  that,  if  his  soul  were 
turned  inside  out,  there  would  not  be  found  a  spot  on  it." 

In  1782,  when  but  twenty-three  years  of  age,  he  was  elected 
to  the  Assembly  of  Virginia,  and  was  also  appointed  a  member  of 
the  Executive  Council.    The  next  year,  he  was  chosen  delegate  to 


172  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

the  Continental  Congress  for  a  term  of  three  years.  He  was  pres- 
ent at  Annapolis  when  Washington  surrendered  his  commission  of 
commander-in-chief  Young  as  Col.  Monroe  was,  he  proved  him- 
self in  Congress  a  very  efficient  man  of  business. 

With  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Madison,  he  felt  deeply  the  in- 
efficiency of  the  old  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  urged  the  for- 
mation of  a  new  Constitution,  which  should  invest  the  Central 
Government  with  something  like  national  power.  Influenced  by 
these  views,  he  introduced  a  resolution  that  Congress  should  be 
empowered  to  regulate  trade,  and  to  lay  an  impost-duty  of  five 
per  cent.  The  resolution  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  which 
he  was  chairman.  The  report,  and  the  discussion  which  rose 
upon  it,  led  to  the  convention  of  five  States  at  Annapolis,  and  the 
subsequent  general  convention  at  Philadelphia,  which,  in  1787, 
draughted  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

At  this  time,  there  was  a  controversy  between  New  York  and 
Massachusetts  in  reference  to  their  boundaries.  The  high  esteem 
in  which  Col.  Monroe  was  held  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  he 
was  appointed  one  of  the  judges  to  decide  the  controversy.  While 
in  New  York  attending  Congress,  he  formed  a  matrimonial  connec- 
tion with  Miss  Kortright,  a  young  lady  distinguished  alike  for  her 
beauty  and  her  accomplishments.  For  nearly  fifty  years  this  hap- 
py union  continued  unbroken,  a  source  of  almost  unalloyed  hap- 
piness to  both  of  the  parties.  In  London  and  in  Paris,  as  in  her 
own  country,  Mrs.  Monroe  won  admiration  and  afi"ection  by  the 
loveliness  of  her  person,  the  brilliancy  of  her  intellect,  and  the 
amiability  of  her  character. 

Returning  to  Virginia,  Col.  Monroe  commenced  the  practice 
of  law  at  Fredericksburg.  He  was  almost  immediately  elected 
to  a  seat  in  the  State  Legislature ;  and  the  next  year  he  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Convention,  which  was  as- 
sembled to  decide  upon  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  Consti- 
tution which  had  been  drawn  up  at  Philadelphia,  and  was  now 
submitted  to  the  several  States.  Deeply  as  he  felt  the  imperfec- 
tions of  the  old  Confederacy,  he  was  opposed  to  the  new  Constitu- 
tion, thinking,  with  many  others  of  the  Republican  party,  that  it 
gave  too  much  power  to  the  Central  Government,  and  not  enough 
to  the  individual  States.  Still  he  retained  the  esteem  of  his  friends, 
who  were  its  warm  supporters,  and  who,  notwithstanding  his  op- 
position, secured  its  adoption.     In  1789,  he  became  a  member  of 


JAMES  MONROE.  173 

the  United-States  Senate ;  which  office  he  held  acceptably  to  his 
constituents,  and  with  honor  to  himself,  for  four  years.  Every 
month,  the  line  of  distinction  between  the  two  great  parties  which 
divided  the  nation,  the  Federal  and  the  Republican,  was  growing 
more  distinct.  The  two  prominent  ideas  which  now  separated 
them  were,  that  the  Republican  party  was  in  sympathy  with 
France,  and  was  also  in  favor  of  such  a  strict  construction  of  the 
Constitution  as  to  give  the  Central  Government  as  little  power,  and 
the  State  Governments  as  much  power,  as  the  Constitution  would 
warrant.  The  Federalists  sympathized  with  England,  and  were 
in  favor  of  a  liberal  construction  of  the  Constitution,  which  would 
give  as  much  power  to  the  Central  Government  as  that  document 
could  possibly  authorize. 

Mr.  Monroe,  having  opposed  the  Constitution  as  not  leaving 
enough  power  with  the  States,  of  course  became  more  and  more 
identified  with  the  Republican  party.  Thus  he  found  himself 
in  cordial  co-operation  with  Jefferson  and  Madison.  The  great 
Republican  party  became  the  dominant  power  which  ruled  the 
land.  But  we  can  imagine  the  shades  of  John  Adams  and  Alex- 
ander Hamilton  rising  from  their  graves  in  the  midst  of  our 
awful  civil  war,  and  exclaiming,  sadly  yet  triumphantly,  ''Did  we 
not  tell  you  so  ?  Has  it  not  been  that  very  doctrine  of  State  sover- 
eignity which  has  plunged  our  land  into  this  conflict?  and  have 
you  not  found  it  necessary,  that  you  might  save  the  country  from 
destruction,  to  arm  the  Constitution  with  those  very  powers  which 
we  were  so  anxious  to  stamp  upon  it  ?  " 

The  leading  Federalists  and  Republicans  were  alike  noble  men, 
consecrating  all  their  energies  to  the  good  of  the  nation.  Two 
more  honest  men  or  more  pure  patriots  than  John  Adams  the 
Federalist,  and  James  Monroe  the  Republican,  never  breathed.  In 
building  up  this  majestic  nation,  which  is  destined  to  eclipse  all 
Grecian  and  Assyrian  greatness,  the  combination  of  their  antago- 
nisms was  needed  to  create  the  right  equilibrium.  And  yet  each, 
in  his  day,  was  denounced  as  almost  a  demon.  Let  this  considera- 
tion, hereafter,  allay  the  biterness  of  party-strife. 

George  Washington  was  then  President.  England  had  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  Bourbons  against  the  principles  of  the  French 
Revolution.  All  Europe  was  drawn  into  the  conflict.  We  were 
feeble,  and  far  away.  President  Washington  issued  a  proclama- 
tion of  neutrality  between  these  contending  powers.     France  had 


174  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

helped  us  in  the  struggle  for  our  liberties.  All  the  despotisms  of 
Europe  were  now  combined  to  prevent  the  French  from  escaping 
from  tyranny  a  thousand-fold  worse  than  that  which  we  had  endured. 
Col.  Monroe,  more  magnanimous  than  prudent,  was  anxious  that, 
at  whatever  hazard,  we  should  help  our  old  allies  in  their  extrem- 
ity. It  was  the  impulse  of  a  generous  and  a  noble  nature.  He 
violently  opposed  the  President's  proclamation,  as  ungrateful,  and 
wanting  in  magnanimity. 

Washington,  who  could  appreciate  such  a  character,  developed 
his  calm,  serene,  almost  divine  greatness,  by  appointing  that  very 
James  Monroe,  who  was  denouncing  the  policy  of  the  Government, 
as  the  minister  of  that  Government  to  the  republic  of  France. 
He  was  directed  by  Washington  to  express  to  the  French  people 
our  warmest  sympathy,  communicating  to  them  corresponding 
resolves  approved  by  the  President,  and  adopted  by  both  houses 
of  Congress. 

Mr.  Monroe  was  welcomed  by  the  National  Convention  in 
France  with  the  most  enthusiastic  demonstrations  of  respect  and 
affection.  He  was  publicly  introduced  to  that  body,  and  received 
the  embrace  of  the  president,  Merlin  de  Douay,  after  having  been 
addressed  in  a  speech  glowing  with  congratulations,  and  with  ex- 
pressions of  desire  that  harmony  might  ever  exist  between  the 
two  countries.  The  flags  of  the  two  republics  were  intertwined 
in  the  hall  of  the  convention.  Mr.  Monroe  presented  the  Ameri- 
can colors,  and  received  those  of  France  in  return.  The  course 
which  he  pursued  in  Paris  was  so  annoying  to  England,  and  to 
the  friends  of  England  in  this  country,  that,  near  the  close  of 
Washington's  administration,  Mr.  Monroe  was  recalled. 

Mr.  Pickering,  Secretary  of  State,  who  was  a  fmatical  hater  of 
France,  and  proportionably  an  adulator  of  England,  sent  an  angry 
despatch  to  Mr.  Monroe,  charging  him  with  *•'  expressing  a  solici- 
tude for  the  welfare  of  the  French  republic  in  a  style  too  warm 
and  affectionate,  b}'  which  we  were  likely  to  give  offence  to  other 
countries,  particularl}'^  to  England." 

In  reply  to  this,  Mr.  Monroe  states  in  his  "  View  "  the  instruc- 
tions he  received  from  Washington,  which  are  interesting  as  show- 
ing the  personal  feelings  of  Washington  towards  France.  He 
writes, — 

"  My  instructions  enjoined  it  on  me  to  use  my  utmost  endeavors 
to  inspire  the  French  Government  with  perfect  confidence  in  the 


JAMES  MONROE.  175 

solicitude  which  the  President  felt  for  the  success  of  the  French 
Revolution;  of  his  preference  of  France  to  all  other  nations,  as  the 
friend  and  ally  of  the  United  States ;  of  the  grateful  sense  which 
we  still  retained  for  the  important  services  that  were  rendered  us 
by  France  in  the  course  of  our  Revolution ;  and  to  declare  in  ex- 
plicit terms,  that  although  neutrality  was  the  lot  we  preferred, 
yet,  in  case  we  embarked  in  the  war,  it  would  be  on  her  side,  and 
against  her  enemies,  be  they  who  they  might." 

In  1796,  President  Washington  addressed  the  French  minister 
in  the  following  words  :  "  My  best  wishes  are  irresistibly  excited, 
whensoever,  in  any  country,  I  see  an  oppressed  nation  unfurl  the 
banner  of  freedom;  but,  above  all,  the  events  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution have  produced  the  deepest  solicitude  as  well  as  the  high- 
est admiration.  To  call  your  nation  brave,  were  to  pronounce  but 
common  praise.  Wonderful  people !  Ages  to  come  will  read  with 
astonishment  your  brilliant  exploits.  In  delivering  to  you  these 
sentiments,  I  express  not  my  feelings  only,  but  those  of  my  fellow- 
citizens,  in  relation  to  the  commencement,  the  progress,  and  the 
issue  of  the  French  Revolution." 

All  despotic  Europe  combined  against  the  enfranchised  nation. 
In  the  frenzy  of  the  unequal  fight,  France  was  plunged  into  anar- 
chy ;  from  which  she  was  rescued  by  Napoleon,  into  whose  impe- 
rial arms,  in  her  dire  necessity,  she  had  cast  herself  And  then 
all  despotic  Europe  turned  its  arms  against  that  one  man.  He 
was  crushed.  The  unfurled  banner  of  "Equal  Rights,"  which  he 
had  so  grandly  borne  aloft,  was  trampled  in  the  dust ;  and  subju- 
gated France  again  bowed  her  neck  to  the  old  feudal  tyranny. 

While  Mr.  Monroe  was  our  minister  in  France,  Mr.  Jay,  with 
strong  English  proclivities,  was  our  ambassador  at  the  court  of 
St.  James.  He  was  ever  ready  to  enter  into  a  commercial  treaty 
which  would  favor  that  country  at  the  expense  of  our  old  ally. 
Mr.  Jay,  with  other  men  of  his  party,  scouting  the  idea  that  any 
thanks  were  due  to  France  for  the  aid  she  had  rendered  us  in  the 
Revolution,  was  not  disposed  to  discriminate  in  the  least  in  her 
favor.  Hence  there  was  intense  antagonism  between  Col.  Monroe 
and  Mr.  Jay. 

Col.  Monroe,  after  his  return,  wrote  a  book  of  four  hundred 
pages,  entitled  "  A  View  of  the  Conduct  of  the  Executive  in 
Foreign  Affairs."  In  this  work,  he  very  ably  advocated  his  side 
of  the  question :  but,  with  magnanimity  characteristic  of  the  man, 


176  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

he  recorded  a  warm  tribute  to  the  patriotism,  ability,  and  spotless 
integrity,  of  John  Jay ;  and,  in  subsequent  years,  he  expressed 
in  warmest  terms  his  perfect  veneration  for  the  character  of 
George  Washington. 

Shortl}^  after  his  return  to  this  country,  Col.  Monroe  was 
elected  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  held  that  office  for  three  years, 
—  the  period  limited  by  the  Constitution.  In  the  year  1802,  it  was 
announced  that  Spain  had  ceded  to  France  that  vast  territory,  ex- 
tending from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific,  which  was  called 
Louisiana.  Napoleon,  then  at  the  head  of  the  armies  of  revolu- 
tionary France,  with  "  Liberte,  Fraternite,  Egalite,"  inscribed  on 
their  banners,  was  trampling  down  those  despots  who  had  banded 
together  to  force  back  the  execrated  old  regime  of  the  Bourbons 
upon  the  emancipated  empire.  Most  of  our  knowledge  of  what 
was  transpiring  on  the  continent  of  Europe  came  to  us  through  the 
English  press.  Never  had  a  story  been  more  falsely  told  than 
that  press  had  narrated, — the  struggle  of  the  French  people  for 
equal  rights,  in  the  revolution  and  in  the  establishment  of  the 
empire. 

The  name  of  Bonaparte  became  a  terror  throughout  the  United 
States.  Mothers  frightened  their  disobedient  children  with  the 
threat  that  Bonaparte  would  get  them.  It  was  proclaimed  that 
the  conqueror  of  Europe  had  only  reserved  us  as  his  last  victim  ; 
that,  taking  possession  of  this  vast  territory  of  Louisiana,  and  land- 
ing upon  it  countless  legions  of  his  triumphant  veterans,  he  would 
sweep  the  country  from  New  Orleans  to  Canada,  establish  his  em- 
pire here,  and  trample  our  liberties  in  the  dust.  The  writer  of  this 
well  remembers  his  terror,  when  a  child,  in  contemplation  of  this 
invasion  by  that  Napoleonic  monster  whom  we  had  been  taught  to 
regard  as  the  embodiment  of  all  evil. 

Mr.  Livingston  was  then  our  minister  to  France.  He  drew  up 
a  very  able  memorial  to  the  First  Consul,  arguing  that  it  would  be 
for  the  true  interest  of  both  countries  that  France  should  cede  the 
province  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States.  It  was  so  manifest 
that  the  United  States  must  have  the  control  of  the  mouths  of  the 
Mississippi,  through  which  alone  the  most  majestic  valley  on  our 
^obe  could  have  access  to  the  ocean,  that  our  most  sagacious 
statsmen  felt  assured,  that,  if  we  could  not  obtain  this  province 
by  treaty,  it  would  inevitably  involve  us  ere  long  in  war. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  then  President.     He  was  beloved  in  France. 


JAMES  MONROE.  177 

The  memory  of  James  Monroe  was  cherished  there  with  universal 
respect  and  affection.  He  was  accordingly  sent  to  co-operate  with 
Chancellor  Livingston,  to  endeavor  to  obtain  by  treaty,  if  possible, 
this  vast  possession.  Their  united  efforts  were  successful.  For 
the  comparatively  small  sum  of  fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  thouo[;h  a 
very  large  one  for  us  in  those  days,  ''the  entire  territory  of  Orleans, 
and  district  of  Louisiana,"  were  added  to  the  United  States.  It 
has  been  truly  said  that  this  was  probably  the  largest  transfer  of 
real  estate  which  was  ever  made  since  Adam  was  presented  with 
the  fee-simple  of  Paradise.  The  country  thus  obtained  was  in  ex- 
tent equal  to  the  whole  previous  territory  of  the  Union,  It  is 
universally  admitted  that  Mr.  Monroe's  influence  was  very  promi- 
nent in  this  measure,  and  he  ever  regarded  it  as  the  most  im- 
portant of  his  public  services.  We  have  now  such  a  territory  in 
magnitude,  and  adaptation  to  human  wants,  as  no  other  nation 
on  this"  globe  ever  possessed. 

From  France,  Mr.  Monroe  went  to  England  to  obtain  from  that 
government  some  recognition  of  our  rights  as  neutrals,  and  to  re- 
monstrate against  those  odious  impressments  of  our  seamen  which 
were  fast  rousing  the  indignation  of  the  country  to  the  highest 
pitch.  But  England  was  unrelenting.  He  then  went  to  Spain,  by 
way  of  Paris,  where  he  saw  Napoleon  crowned.  In  Spain,  he 
endeavored,  though  unavailingly,  to  adjust  a  controversy  which 
had  arisen  respecting  the  eastern  boundar^^  of  the  territory,  which 
that  government  had  ceded  to  France,  and  France  to  us.  Napo- 
leon, in  his  cession,  had  copied  the  same  words  which  Spain  had 
used  in  conveying  the  territory  to  France. 

Our  relations  with  England  were  daily  becoming  more  menacing. 
We  would  not  willingly  revive  old  griefs  to  perpetuate  animosi- 
ties :  we  would  gladly  have  past  wrongs  forgotten,  that  kindly 
sympathies  may  pervade  the  whole  human  brotherhood.  But 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  biographer  and  the  historian  to  hold  up 
the  errors  of  the  past  as  a  warning  for  the  future.  There  is 
not  a  nation  on  this  globe,  savage  or  civilized,  which  regards 
with  cordial  friendship  the  British  Government.  For  the  last 
half-century,  England  has  been  the  leading  power  among  the  na- 
tions. Her  demeanor  has  been  arrogant,  haughty,  and  overbear- 
ing. The  powerful  have  been  repelled  by  her  proud  assumptions, 
and  the  weak  have  been  trampled  upon  in  undisguised  contempt. 

23 


178  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

England  is  no  longer  the  leading  power  in  the  world,  and  there  are 
none  who  mourn  to  see  her  shorn  of  her  strength. 

Let  America  take  warning.  It  is  as  important  that  a  nation 
should  have  the  good  will  of  all  surrounding  powers  as  that  an 
individual  should  be  loved  by  his  neighbors.  Let  us  be  courteous, 
obliging,  and  unselfish  in  our  intercourse  with  the  strong,  and 
sympathetic,  gentle,  and  helping  to  the  weak.  Let  us  try  to 
prove  the  world's  great  benefactor,  the  friend  and  comforter  of 
our  brother  man  everywhere  struggling  beneath  the  heavy  bur- 
den of  life. 

England,  despising  our  feeble  navy,  forbade  our  trading  with 
-France  ;  and  seized  and  confiscated  mercilessly  our  merchant-ships 
bound  to  any  port  in  France  or  Spain,  wherever  her  cruisers  could 
arrest  them.  Mr.  Monroe  again  returned  to  England,  almost  in 
the  character  of  a  suppliant;  for  our  Government  was  extremely 
averse  to  adopt  any  measures  which  could  lead  to  war.  The  adminis- 
tration was  even  taunted  with  the  declaration,  that  it  '•'  could  not 
be  kicked  into  a  war."  No  redress  could  be  obtained.  Mr.  Mon- 
roe returned  to  this  country,  bearing  with  him  a  treaty  which  was 
so  very  unsatisfactory,  that  the  President  was  not  willing  to  sub- 
mit it  to  the  Senate.  Plundered  merchants  and  ruined  ship- 
owners poured  in  upon  Congress  petitions  and  remonstrances, 
and  there  was  a  cry  throughout  the  land  that  that  government 
was  recreant  to  its  trust  which  did  not  protect  its  citizens  from 
outrage. 

At  this  time,  Mr.  Monroe,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight,  returned  to 
his  quiet  home  in  Virginia,  and  with  his  wife  and  children,  and 
an  ample  competence  from  his  paternal  estate,  enjoyed  a  few 
years  of  domestic  repose. 

In  the  year  1809,  Mr.  Jefferson's  second  term  of  office  expired. 
Many  of  the  Republican  party  were  anxious  to  nominate  James 
Monroe  as  his  successor.  The  majority  were  iii  favor  of  Mr. 
Madison.  Mr.  Jefferson  also  favored  Mr.  Madison,  as  being  the 
more  moderate  man,  and  the  more  likely  to  carry  the  votes  of  the 
whole  party.  Mr.  Monroe  withdrew  his  name,  and  was  soon  after 
chosen  a  second  time  Governor  of  Virginia.  He  soon  resigned 
that  office  to  accept  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State,  offered 
him  by  President  Madison.  The  correspondence  which  he  then 
carried  on  with  the  British  Government  demonstrated  that  there 
was  no  hope  of  any  peaceful  adjustment  of  our  difficulties  with 


JAMES  MONROE.  ^  179 

the  cabinet  of  St.  James.  War  was  consequently  declared  in 
June,  1812.  Immediately  after  the  sack  of  Washington,  the  Sec- 
retary of  War  resigned ;  and  Mr.  Monroe,  at  the  earnest  request 
of  Mr.  Madison,  assumed  the  additional  duties  of  the  War  De- 
partment, without  resigning  his  office  of  Secretary  of  State. 
It  has  been  confidently  stated,  that,  had  Col.  Monroe's  energy 
been  in  the  War  Department  a  few  months  earlier,  the  disaster  at 
Washington  would  not  have  occurred. 

The  duties  now  devolving  upon  Mr.  Monroe  were  extremely 
arduous.  Ten  thousand  men,  picked  from  the  veteran  armies  of 
England,  were  sent,  with  a  powerful  fleet,  to  New  Orleans,  to  ac- 
quire possession  of  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi.  Our  finances 
were  in  the  most  deplorable  condition.  The  treasury  was  exhausted, 
and  our  credit  gone  ;  and  yet  it  was  necessary  to  make  the  most 
vigorous  preparations  to  meet  the  foe.  In  this  crisis,  James  Mon- 
roe,, the  Secretary  of  War,  with  virtue  unsurpassed  in  Greek  or 
Roman  story,  stepped  forward,  and  pledged  his  own  individual 
credit  as  subsidiary  to  that  of  the  nation,  and  thus  succeeded  in 
placing  the  city  of  New  Orleans  in  such  a  posture  of  defence, 
that  it  was  enabled  successfully  to  repel  the  invader. 

Mr.  Monroe  was  truly  the  armor-bearer  of  President  Madison, 
and  the  most  efficient  business-man  in  his  cabinet.  His  energy, 
in  his  double  capacity  of  Secretary  both  of  State  and  War,  pervaded 
all  the  departments  of  the  country.  With  the  most  singular 
unselfishness,  regardless  both  of  his  private  interests  and  his  polit- 
ical popularity,  he  advocated  every  measure  which  in  his  judgment 
would  aid  in  securing  the  triumph  of  his  country.  He  proposed 
to  increase  the  army  to  a  hundred  thousand  men,  —  a  measure 
which  he  deemed  absolutely  necessary  to  save  us  from  igno- 
minious defeat,  but  which,  at  the  same  time,  he  knew  would 
render  his  name  so  unpopular,  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of 
his  being  a  successful  candidate  for  the  presidency.  He  conversed 
freely  with  his  friends  upon  the  subject,  and  calmly  decided  to 
renounce  all  thoughts  of  the  presidential  chair,  while  he  urged 
that  conscription  which  would  enter  every  dwelling  in  search 
ol  a  soldier. 

The  happy  result  of  the  conference  at  Ghent  in  securing  peace 
rendered  the  increase  of  the  army  unnecessary  ;  but  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say,  that  James  Monroe  placed  in  the  hands  of  Andrew 
Jackson  the  weapon  with  which  he   beat   off  the    foe   at  New 


180  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Orleans.  Upon  the  return  of  peace,  Mr.  Monroe  resigned  the 
Department  of  War,  devoting  himself  exclusively  to  the  duties 
of  the  Secretary  of  State.  These  he  continued  to  discharge  until 
the  close  of  President  Madison's  administration,  with  zeal  which 
never  abated,  and  with  an  ardor  of  self-devotion  which  made 
him  almost  forgetful  of  the  claims  of  fortune,  health,  or  life. 

Mr.  Madison's  second  term  of  office  expired  in  March,  1817 ; 
and  Mr.  Monroe,  thoroughly  acquainted  with  all  the  affairs  of  the 
nation,  and  perfectly  versed  in  all  the  duties  before  him,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  presidency.  He  was  the  candidate  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  now  taking  the  name  of  Democratic  Republican;  and 
was  chosen  by  a  large  majority.  There  seemed  to  be  for  a  time 
a  lull  in  party  strife.  Mr.  Monroe  was  a  man  of  ability,  at 
home  in  all  statesmanlike  duties,  more  famihar  than  perhaps  any 
other  person  with  our  internal  and  foreign  relations  :  he  was  a 
man  of  unblemished  character,  of  honesty  of  purpose,  and  purity 
of  patriotism  which  no  man  could  question.  A  better  choice 
could  not  have  been  made.  His  inaugural  was  conciliatory,  and 
pleased  all.  The  Constitution  which  he  had  opposed,  wishing 
merely  to  introduce  some  amendments  before  it  was  adopted,  he 
now  admitted  to  be  nearly  perfect. 

It  has  been  said,  happy  is  thatnation  which  has  no  history ;  for 
history  is  but  a  record  of  revolutions  and  battles.  There  is  but 
little  to  be  recorded  during  the  eight  years  in  which  President 
Monroe  was  at  the  head  of  the  administration  of  our  Government. 
They  were  years  of  prosperity  and  peace.  In  forming  his  cabinet, 
Mr.  Monroe  placed  the  Department  of  State  in  the  hands  of  John 
Quincy  Adams.  Florida  was  purchased  of  Spain  for  five  millions 
of  dollars,  by  the  exercise  of  that  power  which  Mr.  Monroe,  in  his 
inexperienced  days,  had  been  so  reluctant  to  confer  upon  the 
General  Government. 

In  June  of  1817,  President  Monroe  took  a  very  extensive  jour- 
ney through  the  States,  visiting  all  the  fortifications.  He  was 
everywhere  received  with  enthusiasm.  He  was  conveyed  up  the 
Delaware  from  Wilmington  to  the  navy-yard  in  Philadelphia  in  a 
barge  of  the  "  Franklin  "  (seventy-four).  The  barge  was  lined  and 
trimmed  with  crimson  velvet,  and  rowed  by  sixteen'  oarsmen, 
dressed  in  scarlet  vests,  white  sleeves  and  trousers.  The  President 
wore  a  dark-blue  coat,  buff  vest,  doe-skin  bufiF-colored  breeches, 
and  top-boots,  with  a  military  cocked-hat  of  the  fashion  of  the 


JAMES  MONROE. 


181 


Revolution,  and  a  black-ribbon  cockade.    His  route  led  liim  throuo-h 
New  York,    New  Haven,  Hartford,  and  Springfield,  to  Boston. 


THE   BAKGE. 


His  reception  in  Boston  was  very  imposing.  A  cavalcade  of 
citizens  met  him  on  the  Neck,  and  escorted  him  through  the  prin- 
cipal streets  of  the  city  to  rooms  sumptuously  prepared  for  bis 
reception  in  the  Exchange  Coffee  House.  Salutes  were  fired 
from  Dorchester  Heights,  the  Common,  and  the  forts  in  the  har- 
bor. State  Street  was  brilliantly  decorated;  and  the  crowd  which 
was  gathered  in  the  commercial  emporium  of  New  England  was 
greater  than  had  ever  been  seen  there  since  the  visit  of  Wash- 
ington. 

From  Boston,  he  passed  through  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont, 
to  Plattsburg  in  New  York,  and  thence  continued  his  journey  to 
Ogdensburg,  iSackett's  Harbor,  and  Detroit,  returning  to  Washing- 
ton the  latter  part  of  September.  His  long  and  fatiguing  tour, 
which  then  occupied  four  months,  could  now  be  easily  performed 
in  three  weeks. 

When  President  Monroe  was  a  young  man  of  eighteen,  he  was 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Trenton.     Passing  through  Hanover, 


182  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

N.H.,  in  this  tour,  he  called  upon  the  widow  of  President  Whee- 
lock  of  Dartmouth  College,  who,  when  a  young  lady  at  her 
father's  house,  had  with  her  own  hands  prepared  the  bandages 
with  which  the  surgeon  had  dressed  the  wound.  In  pensive 
memory  of  the  past,  the  care-worn  statesman  and  the  bereaved 
widow  exchanged  their  sympathetic  greetings,  and  then  sepa^ 
rated,  not  again  to  meet  on  this  earth. 

All  along  his  route.  President  Monroe  met  his  old  companions  in 
arms,  many  of  whom  were  impoverished.  One  friend  he  found 
whom  he  had  known  as  a  young,  scholarly,  accomplished  officer, 
and  who  had  contributed  lavishly  of  his  fortune  to  feed  and  clothe 
the  soldiers  of  his  regiment,  but  whose  threadbare  garments  too 
plainly  bespoke  the  poverty  which  had  come  with  his  gray  hairs. 
The  President  was  deeply  moved,  and,  on  his  retiring,  spoke  with 
great  warmth  of  the  neglect  of  our  country  in  making  provision 
for  the  wants  of  those  who  had  shed  their  blood  for  our  independ- 
ence. On  his  return  to  Washington,  he  exerted  himself  in  secur- 
ing a  pension-law  to  cheer  the  declining  years  of  these  fast- 
disappearing  veterans. 

In  1821,  President  Monroe  was  re-elected,  with  scarcely  any 
opposition.  Out  of  232  electoral  votes,  Mr.  Monroe  had  231.  The 
slavery  question,  which  subsequently  assumed  such  formidable 
dimensions,  threatening  to  whelm  the  whole  Union  in  ruins,  now 
began  to  make  its  appearance.  The  State  of  Missouri,  which  had 
been  carved  out  of  that  immense  territory  which  we  had  pur- 
chased of  France,  applied  for  admission  to  the  Union  with  a 
slavery  constitution.  There  were  not  a  few  who  foresaw  the  evils 
impending.  In  the  long  and  warm  debate  which  ensued,  Mr. 
Lourie  of  Maryland  said, — 

"  Sir,  if  the  alternative  be,  as  gentlemen  broadly  intimate,  a  dis- 
solution of  the  Union,  or  the  extension  of  slavery  over  this  whole 
western  country,  I,  for  one,  will  choose  the  former.  I  do  not  say 
this  lightly.  I  am  aware  that  the  idea  is  a  dreadful  one.  The 
choice  is  a  dreadful  one.  Either  side  of  the  alternative  fills  my 
mind  with  horror.  I  have  not,  however,  yet  despaired  of  the  Re- 
public." 

After  the  debate  of  a  week,  it  was  decided  that  Missouri  could 
not  be  admitted  into  the  Union  with  slavery.  The  question  was 
at  length  settled  by  a  compromise,  proposed  by  Henry  Clay. 
Missouri  was  admitted  with  slavery  on  the  10th  of  May,  1821 ;  and 


JAMES  MONROE.  183 

slavery  was  prohibited  over  all  the  territory  ceded  by  France, 
Dorth  of  thirty-six  degrees,  thirty  minutes,  north  latitude. 

The  famous  "  Monroe  Doctrine,"  of  which  so  much  has  recently 
been  said,  originated  in  this  way:  In  the  year  1823,  it  was  ru- 
mored that  the  Holy  Alliance  was  about  to  interfere,  to  prevent 
the  establishment  of  republican  liberty  in  the  European  colonies 
in  South  America.  President  Monroe  wrote  to  his  old  friend 
Thomas  Jefferson,  then  the  sage  of  Monticello,  for  advice  in  the 
emergency.  In  the  reply,  under  date  of  Oct.  24,  Mr.  Jefferson 
writes  upon  the  supposition  that  our  attempt  to  resist  this  Euro- 
pean movement  might  lead  to  war,  — 

''  Its  object  is  to  introduce  and  establish  the  American  system 
of  keeping  out  of  our  land  all  foreign  powers;  of  never  permitting 
those  of  Europe  to  intermeddle  with  the  affairs  of  our  nation.  It 
is  to  maintain  our  own  principle,  not  to  depart  from  it." 

A  few  weeks  after  this,  on  the  2d  of  December,  1823,  Presi- 
dent Monroe  sent  a  message  to  Congress,  declaring  it  to  be  the 
policy  of  this  Government  not  to  entangle  ourselves  with  the 
broils  of  Europe,  and  not  to  allow  Europe  to  interfere  with  affairs 
of  nations  on  the  American  continents  ;  and  the  doctrine  was 
announced,  that  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  European  powers 
'•'  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of  this  hemisphere  would 
be  regarded  by  the  United  States  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and 
safety." 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1825,  Mr.  Monroe,  surrendering  the 
presidential  chair  to  his  Secretary  of  State,  John  Quincy  Adams, 
retired,  with  the  universal  respect  of  the  nation,  to  his  private 
residence  at  Oak  Hill,  in  Loudon  County,  Va.  His  time  had  been 
so  entirely  consecrated  to  the  country,  that  he  had  neglected  his 
own  pecuniary  interests,  and  was  deeply  involved  in  debt.  In  de- 
votion to  his  duties,  he  had  engaged  "in  labors  outlasting  the  daily 
circuit  of  the  sun,  and  outwatching  the  vigils  of  the  night."  The 
welfare  of  the  country  —  the  whole  country  —  had  ever  been  the 
one  prominent  thought  in  his  mind.  If  we  allow  the  panorama  of 
his  life  to  pass  rapidly  before  us,  we  see  him,  just  emerging  from 
boyhood,  weltering  in  blood  on  the  field  of  Trenton ;  then,  still  a 
youth,  he  is  seated  among  the  sages  of  the  land,  forming  the  laws; 
then  he  moves  with  power  which  commands  attention  and  respect 
in  the  courts  of  Britain,  France,  and  Spain,  defending  the  rights 
of  his  country ;  then  his  native  State  raises  him  to  the  highest 


184  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

honor  in  her  gift,  and  twice  places  in  his  hand  the  sceptre  of 
gubernatorial  power ;  again  we  behold  him  successfully  forging  the 
thunderbolts  of  war  with  which  to  repel  invasion,  while  at  the 
same  time  he  conducts  our  diplomatic  correspondence,  and  frames 
our  foreign  policy,  with  jealous  and  often  hostile  nations ;  and 
again  we  see  him,  by  the  almost  unanimous  voice  of  his  country- 
men, placed  in  the  highest  post  of  honor  the  nation  could  offer, — 
the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  ;  and  then,  with  dignity,  he 
retires  to  a  humble  home,  a  poor  man  in  worldly  wealth,  but 
rich  in  all  those  excellences  which  can  ennoble  humanity. 

For  many  years,  Mrs.  Monroe  was  in  such  feeble  health,  that  she 
rarely  appeared  in  public.  In  1830,  Mr.  Monroe  took  up  his  resi- 
dence with  his  son-in-law  in  New  York,  where  he  died  on  the 
4th  of  July,  1831,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three  years.  The  citi- 
zens of  New  York  conducted  his  obsequies  with  pageants  more 
imposing  than  had  ever  been  witnessed  there  before.  Our  country 
will  ever  cherish  his  memory  with  pride,  gratefully  enrolling  his 
name  in  the  list  of  its  benefactors,  pronouncing  him  the  worthy 
successor  of  the  illustrious  men  who  had  preceded  him  in  the 
presidential  chair. 


CHAPTER  VL 


JOHN    QUINCY   ADAMS. 

Birth  and  Childhood.  —  Education  in  Europe.  —  Private  Secretary.  —  Enters  Harvard  College. 

—  Studies  Law.  —  Minister  to  the  Netherlands.  —  Commendation  of  Washington.  —  Other 
Missions.  —  Return  to  America.  —  Elected  to  the  Massachusetts  Senate.  —  To  the  Na- 
tional House  of  Representatives.  —  Alienation  of  the  Federalists.  —  Professor  of  Rhetoric. 

—  Mission  to  Russia.  —  Anecdote  of  Alexander.  —  Treaty  of  Ghent.  —  Secretary  of 
State.  —  President.  —  Unscrupulous  Opposition.  —  Retirement.  —  Returned  to  the  House 
of  Representatives.  — Signal  Services.  —  Public  Appreciation.  — Death. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  the  sixth  President  of  the  United  States, 
"was  born  in  the  rural  home  of  his  honored  father,  John  Adams, 


RESIDENCE   OF  JOTIN   QUINCY  ADAMS. 


in  Quincy,   Mass.,   on   the    11th   of   July,   1767.      His   mother, 
a  woman  of  exalted  worth,  watched  over  his  childhood  during  the 

24  185 


186  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

almost  constant  absence  of  his  father.  At  the  village  school  he 
commenced  his  education,  giving  at  an  early  period  indications 
of  superior  mental  endowments.  When  but  eight  years  of  age,  he 
stood  with  his  mother  upon  an  eminence,  listening  to  the  booming 
of  the  great  battle  on  Bunker's  Hill,  and  gazing  upon  the  smoke 
and  flame  billowing  up  from  the  conflagration  of  Charlestown. 
Often,  during  the  siege  of  Boston,  he  watched  the  shells  thrown 
day  and  night  by  the  combatants. 

When  but  eleven  years  old,  he  took  a  tearful  adieu  of  his 
mother,  and  was  rowed  out  in  a  small  boat  to  a  ship  anchored  in 
the  bay,  to  sail  with  his  father  for  Europe,  through  a  fleet  of  hos- 
tile British  cruisers.  The  bright,  animated  boy  spent  a  year  and 
a  half  in  Paris,  where  his  father  was  associated  with  Franklin  and 
Lee  as  minister  plenipotentiary.  His  intelligence  attracted  the 
notice  of  these  distinguished  men,  and  he  received  from  them 
flattering  marks  of  attention. 

Mr.  John  Adams  had  scarcely  returned  to  this  country  in  1779 
ere  he  was  again  sent  abroad,  empowered  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  England,  whenever  England  should  be  disposed  to 
end  the  war.  Again  John  Quincy  accompanied  his  father.  On 
this  voyage  he  commenced  a  diary,  noting  down  the  remarkable 
events  of  each  day ;  which  practice  he  continued,  with  but  few 
interruptions,  until  his  death.  With  his  active  mind  ever  alert,  he 
journeyed  with  his  father  from  Ferrol  in  Spain,  where  the  frigate 
landed,  to  Paris.  Here  he  applied  himself  with  great  diligence, 
for  six  months,  to  study;  then  accompanied  his  father  to  Holland, 
where  he  entered,  first  a  school  in  Amsterdam,  and  then  the  Uni- 
versity of  Leyden.  About  a  year  from  this  time,  in  1781,  when 
the  manly  boy  was  but  fourteen  years  of  age,  he  was  selected  by 
\  Mr.  Dana,  our  minister  to  the  Russian  court,  as  his  private  secre- 
tary. 

In  this  school  of  incessant  labor  and  of  ennobling  culture  he 
spent  fourteen  months,  and  then  returned  to  Holland  through 
Sweden,  Denmark,  Hamburg,  and  Bremen.  This  long  journey  he 
took  alone,  in  the  winter,  when  in  his  sixteenth  year.  Again  he 
resumed  his  studies,  under  a  private  tutor,  at  the  Hague.  Thence, 
in  the  spring  of  1782,  he  accompanied  his  father  to  Paris,  travel- 
ling leisurely,  and  forming  acquaintance  with  the  most  distin- 
guished men  on  the  Continent ;  examining  architectural  remains, 
galleries  of  paintings,  and  all  renowned  works  of  art.     At  Paris; 


JOHN  qUINCY  ADAMS.  187 

he  again  became  the  associate  of  the  most  illustrious  men  of  all 
lands  in  the  contemplation  of  the  loftiest  temporal  themes  which 
can  engross  the  human  mind.  After  a  short  visit  to  England,  he 
returned  to  Paris,  and  consecrated  all  his  energies  to  study  until 
May,  1785,  when  he  returned  to  America,  leaving  his  father  our 
ambassador  at  the  court  of  St.  James.  To  a  brilliant  young  man 
of  eighteen,  who  had  seen  much  of  the  world,  and  who  was  famil- 
iar with  the  etiquette  of  courts,  a  residence  with  his  father  in 
London,  under  such  circumstances,  must  have  been  extremely 
attractive  ;  but,  with  judgment  very  rare  in  one  of  his  age,  he 
preferred  to  return  to  America  to  complete  his  education  in  an 
American  college.  He  wished  then  to  study  law,  that,  with  an 
honorable  profession,  he  might  be  able  to  obtain  an  independent 
support. 

The  advancement  which  he  had  already  made  in  education  was 
such,  that,  in  1786,  he  entered  the  junior  class  in  Harvard  Univer- 
sity. His  character,  attainments,  and  devotion  to  study,  secured 
alike  the  respect  of  his  classmates  and  the  faculty,  and  he  gradu- 
ated with  the  second  honor  of  his  class.  The  oration  he  delivered 
on  this  occasion,  upon  the  "  Importance  of  Public  Faith  to  the  Well- 
being  of  a  Community,"  was  published ;  an  event  very  rare  in  this 
or  in  any  other  land. 

Upon  leaving  college,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  he  studied  law  for 
three  years  with  the  Hon.  Theophilus  Parsons  in  Newburyport. 
In  1790,  he  opened  a  law-office  in  Boston.  The  profession  was 
crowded  with  able  men,  and  the  fees  were  small.  The  first  year,  he 
had  no  clients ;  but  not  a  moment  was  lost,  ^z  his  eager  mind  trav- 
ersed the  fields  of  all  knowledge.  The  second  year  passed  away  ; 
still  no  clients ;  and  still  he  was  dependent  upon  his  parents  for  sup- 
port. Anxiously  he  entered  upon  the  third  year.  He  had  learned 
to  labor  and  to  wait.  The  reward  now  came,  —  a  reward  richly 
merited  by  the  purity  of  his  character,  the  loftiness  of  his  princi- 
ples, and  his  intense  application  to  every  study  which  would  aid 
him  to  act  well  his  part  in  life.  Clients  began  to  enter  his  office  ; 
and,  before  the  close  of  the  year,  he  was  so  crowded  with  business, 
that  all  solicitude  respecting  a  support  was  at  an  end. 

When  Great  Britain  commenced  war  against  France,  in  1793,  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  French  Revolution,  Mr.  Adams  wrote 
some  articles,  urging  entire  neutrality  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States.     The   view  was   not  a  popular  one.     Many  felt,  that,  as 


188  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

France  had  helped  us,  we  were  bound  to  help  France.  But  Presi 
dent  Washington  coincided  with  Mr.  Adams,  and  issued  his  proc- 
lamation of  neutrality.  His  writings  at  this  time  in  the  Boston 
journals  attracted  national  attention,  and  gave  him  so  high  a  repu- 
tation for  talent,  and  familiarity  with  our  diplomatic  relations,  that 
in  June,  1794,  he,  being  then  but  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  was 
appointed  by  Washington  resident  minister  at  the  Netherlands. 

Saihng  from  Boston  in  July,  he  reached  London  in  October, 
where  he  was  immediately  admitted  to  the  deliberations  of  Messrs. 
Jay  and  Pinckney,  assisting  them  in  negotiating  a  commercial 
treaty  with  Great  Britain.  After  thus  spending  a  fortnight  in 
London,  he  proceeded  to  the  Hague,  where  he  arrived  just  after 
Holland  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  French  under  Pichegru. 
The  French  gathered  around  Mr.  Adams,  as  the  representative  of 
a  nation  which  had  just  successfully  passed  through  that  struggle 
for  liberty  in  which  they  were  then  engaged. 

In  the  agitated  state  of  Europe,  swept  by  the  great  armies 
struggling  for  and  against  "  equal  rights  for  all  men,"  there  was 
but  little  that  a  peaceful  ambassador  could  then  accomplish  ;  but, 
being  one  of  the  most  methodical  and  laborious  of  men,  he  devoted 
himself  to  official  duties,  the  claims  of  society,  reading  the  ancient 
classics,  and  familiarizing  himself  with  the  languages  of  modern 
Europe.  Every  hour  had  its  assigned  duty.  Every  night  he 
reviewed  what  he  had  done  for  the  day  ;  and,  at  the  close  of  every 
month  and  ever}^  year,  he  subjected  his  conduct  to  rigorous  retro- 
spection. 

In  July,  1797,  he  left  the  Hague  to  go  to  Portugal  as  minister 
plenipotentiary.  Washington  at  this  time  wrote  to  his  father, 
John  Adams, — 

"  Without  intending  to  compliment  the  father  or  the  mother,  or 
to  censure  any  others,  I  give  it  as  my  decided  opinion,  that  Mr. 
Adams  is  the  most  valuable  character  which  we  have  abroad ;  and 
there  remains  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  he  will  prove  himself  the 
ablest  of  all  our  diplomatic  corps." 

On  his  way  to  Portugal,  upon  his  arrival  in  London,  he  met  with 
despatches  directing  him  to  the  court  of  Berlin,  but  requesting 
him  to  remain  in  London  until  he  should  receive  his  instructions. 
While  waiting,  he  was  married  to  an  American  lady  to  whom  he 
had  been  previously  engaged,  —  Miss  Louisa  Catharine  Johnson, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Joshua  Johnson,  American  consul  in  London ;  a 


JOHN  QUINCT  ADAMS.  189 

lady  endowed  with  that  beauty  and  those  accomplishments  which 
eminently  fitted  her  to  move  in  the  elevated  sphere  for  which 
she  was  destined. 

Mr.  Adams  was  very  reluctant  to  accept  the  mission  to  Berlin, 
as  it  was  an  appointment  made  by  his  father,  who  had  succeeded 
Washington  in  the  presidential  chair.  But  his  father  wrote  to 
him,  informing  him  of  the  earnest  wish  of  Washington  that  the 
countiy  might  not  lose  the  benefit  of  his  familiarity  with  the  Euro- 
pean courts.     To  his  mother,  John  Quincy  wrote,  in  reply, — 

"  I  know  with  what  delight  your  truly  maternal  heart  has 
received  every  testimonial  of  Washington's  favorable  voice.  It  is 
among  the  most  precious  gratifications  of  my  life  to  reflect  upon 
the  pleasure  which  my  conduct  has  given  to  my  parents.  How 
much,  my  dear  mother,  is  required  of  me  to  support  and  justify 
such  a  judgment  as  that  which  you  have  copied  into  your  letter  !  " 

He  reached  Berlin  with  his  wife  in  November,  1797  ;  where  he 
remained  until  July,  1799,  when,  having  fulfilled  all  the  purposes 
of  his  mission,  he  solicited  his  recall.  In  the  mean  time,  he  travelled 
extensively  through  the  German  States,  writing  a  series  of  letters 
which  were  subsequently  published.  As  soon  as  permission  came 
for  his  return,  he  embarked,  and  reached  the  United  States  in  Sep- 
tember. 1801. 

Soon  after  his  return,  in  1802,  he  was  chosen  to  the  Senate  of 
Massachusetts  from  Boston,  and  then  was  elected  senator  of  the 
United  States  for  six  years  from  the  4th  of  March,  1804.  Alike 
the  friend  of  Washington  and  Jefferson,  with  cordial  commenda- 
tions from  them  both,  he  was  in  an  admirable  position  to  take  an 
independent  stand,  unbiassed  by  partisan  prejudices.  His  reputa- 
tion, his  ability,  and  his  experience,  placed  him  immediately  among 
the  most  prominent  and  influential  members  of  that  body.  In 
every  measure  which  his  judgment  approved,  he  cordially  sup- 
ported Mr.  Jefierson's  administration.  Especially  did  he  sustain 
the  Government  in  its  measures  of  resistance  to  the  encroachments 
of  England,  destroying  our  commerce  and  insulting  our  flag. 
There  was  no  man  in  America  more  familiar  with  the  arrogance 
of  the  British  court  upon  these  points,  and  no  one  more  i-esolved 
to  present  a  firm  resistance. 

This  course,  so  truly  patriotic,  and  which  scarcely  a  voice  will 
now  be  found  to  condemn,  alienated  from  him  the  Federal  party 
dominant  in  Boston,  and  subjected  him  to  censure.     In  1805,  he 


190  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

was  chosen  professor  of  rhetoric  in  Harvard  College  ;  and  this  Id 
defatigable  man,  in  addition  to  his  senatorial  duties,  entered  vigor- 
ously upon  a  course  of  preparatory  studies,  reviewing  his  classics, 
and  searching  the  literature  of  Europe  for  materials  for  his  lec- 
tures. The  lectures  he  thus  prepared  were  subsequently  published, 
and  constitute  enduring  memorials  of  his  genius  and  his  industry. 

On  the  22d  of  June,  1807,  an  event  occurred  to  which  we  have 
referred,  and  to  which  it  is  necessary  to  allude  more  particu- 
larly. 

On  the  7th  of  June,  1807,  the  United-States  frigate  ''  Chesapeake" 
proceeded  to  sea  from  Norfolk.  The  British  man-of-war  "  Leopard," 
knowing  that  she  was  to  sail,  had  preceded  her  by  a  few  hours  ; 
keeping  advantage  of  the  weather-gauge.  As  soon  as  "  The  Chesa- 
peake "  was  fairly  out  to  sea,  '^  The  Leopard"  came  down  upon  her, 
hailed  her,  and  said  she  had  despatches  to  send  on  board.  Commo- 
dore Barron  of  " The  Chesapeake"  answered  the  hail,  and  said  that 
he  would  receive  a  boat.  A  British  lieutenant  came  on  board,  and 
presented  an  order  from  the  British  admiral,  which  stated  that  he 
had  reason  to  believe  that  there  were  four  British  subjects  among 
the  seamen  of  "  The  Chesapeake,"  and  ordered  Commodore  Barron 
to  muster  the  crew  that  he  might  select  them. 

The  commodore  refused.  As  soon  as  informed  of  this  by  the 
return  of  the  boat's  crew,  "  The  Leopard  "  commenced  firing  upon 
'•The  Chesapeake,"  and  for  fifteen  minutes  continued  pouring  in  her 
broadsides, though  ''  The  Chesapeake"  was  in  such  a  condition,  thus 
taken  by  surprise,  as  not  to  be  able  to  answer  by  a  single  gun. 
Three  men  were  killed,  and  Commodore  Barron  and  nine  others 
wounded.  "  The  Chesapeake's  "  flag  was  struck.  The  English  cap- 
tain refused  to  receive  her  as  a  prize,  but  took  four  men  from  the 
crew,  whom  he  claimed  as  Englishmen.  One  of  these  soon  after 
died ;  one  he  hung  as  a  deserter ;  the  two  others  were  eventually 
returned  to  "  The  Chesapeake  "  as  Americans. 

This  outrage  roused  general  indignation.  A  meeting  was  called 
at  the  State  House  in  Boston.  But  few  Federalists  attended. 
Mr.  Adams  presented  resolutions,  which  were  unanimously  adopted. 
His  father,  the  Ex-President,  acted  with  him  in  this  movement. 
For  this  they  were  both  denounced  as  apostates  from  the  Federal 
party.  President  Jefferson  called  a  special  meeting  of  Congress 
to  act  upon  this  affair.  Mr.  Adams  earnestly  supported  the  meas- 
ures of  Mr.  Jefferson's  cabinet,  when  it  proposed,  in  response  to 
this  outrage,  that  — 


JOHN  qUINCY  ADAMS.  191 

"  No  British  armed  vessel  shall  be  permitted  to  enter  the  harbors 
and  waters  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  except 
when  forced  in  by  distress,  by  the  dangers  of  the  sea,  or  when 
charged  with  public  despatches,  or  coming  as  a  public  packet." 

John  Quincy  Adams,  in  a  letter  to  James  Otis,  dated  March,  1808, 
writes, ''  Examine  th^  official  returns  from  the  Department  of  State. 
They  give  the  names  of  between  four  and  five  thousand  men 
impressed  since  the  commencement  of  the  present  war,  of  which 
not  one-fifth  -part  were  British  subjects.  I  hazard  little  in  saying 
that  more  than  three-fourths  were  native  American-s.  If  it  be  said 
that  some  of  these  men,  though  appearing  on  the  face  of  the 
returns  American  citizens,  were  really  British  subjects,  and  had 
fraudulently  procured  their  j^rotections,  I  reply,  that  this  number 
must  be  far  exceeded  by  the  cases  of  citizens  impressed  which 
never  reach  the  Department  of  State.  The  American  consul  in 
London  estimates  the  number  of  impressments  during  the  war 
at  three  times  the  amount  of  the  names  returned."  Thus  England 
dragged  from  our  ships  fifteen  thousand  men,  whom  she  claimed 
as  her  subjects,  and  forced  into  her  men-of-war  to  fight  her  battles. 
There  was  no  trial  by  a  court  to  substantiate  a  claim.  Neither 
Tripoli  nor  Algiers  ever  perpetrated  a  grosser  outrage. 

Mr.  Adams,  averring  that  the  course  the  Administration  proposed 
was  the  only  safe  one  for  the  country,  became  upon  this  point 
separated  from  his  Federal  friends,  and  allied  to  the  Administration; 
and  his  services  were  recognized  with  gratitude  by  Mr.  Jefferson. 
The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  gave  such  unequivocal  indication 
of  their  displeasure  with  Mr.  Adams,  that  he  addressed  to  them  a 
letter,  stating  that  he  deemed  it  his  duty  to  support  the  Adminis- 
tration in  those  measures  which  to  him  seemed  essential  to  the 
dignity  and  safety  of  the  country ;  but,  as  the  Legislature  had  dis- 
approved of  his  course,  he  resigned  his  seat,  that  they  might  have 
an  opportunity  to  place  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  a  mem- 
ber whose  views  Avould  be  more  consonant  with  those  which  they 
entertained. 

James  Lloyd  was  immediately  chosen  to  fill  the  place  thus 
vacated  by  one  whose  renown  filled  two  hemispheres.  Mr.  Adams 
returned  to  his  professorship,  not  only  neglected  and  avoided  by 
his  old  friends,  but  assailed  by  them  with  the  bitterest  invectives. 
From  this  weight  of  obloquy  he  had  no  relief  but  in  the  approval 
of  his  own  conscience,  and  his  anticipation  of  that  verdict  which 
posterity  has  already  rendered. 


192  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

In  1809,  Madison  succeeded  Jefferson  in  the  presidential  chair ; 
and  he  immediately  nominated  John  Quincy  Adams  minister  to 
St.  Petersburg.  Washington  had  declared  that  Mr.  Adams  was 
the  ablest  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  and  that  he  must  not  think  of 
retiring  from  that  service.  Stung  by  the  treatment  he  had  received 
from  the  Federalists  in  Boston,  Mr.  Adams  abandoned  the  Federal 
party,  and  allied  himself  earnestly  with  Mr.  Madison  in  his  admin- 
istration. 

Resigning  his  professorship,  he  embarked  at  Boston  with  Mrs. 
Adams  and  their  youngest  son  in  August,  1809,  and,  after  a  stormy 
passage,  reached  St.  Petersburg  on  the  23d  of  October.  Twice 
their  ship,  which  was  a  merchantman,  was  stopped  and  searched 
by  British  cruisers  ;  and,  but  for  Mr.  Adams's  firmness  and  thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  law  of  nations,  the  ship  would  not  have 
been  permitted  to  continue  to  its  port  of  destination. 

He  was  received  by  the  Emperor  Alexander  alone  in  his  cabinet, 
and  a  warm  attachment  immediately  sprang  up  between  those 
illustrious  men  ;  and  thus  was  laid  the  foundations  of  that  friend- 
ship which  binds  the  two  nations  together  to  the  present  day.  I 
have  before  spoken  of  the  arrogance  assumed  by  the  British  Gov- 
ernment in  the  days  of  its  power,  which  has  alienated  from  that 
government  the  sympathies  of  all  nations.  I  have  spoken  of  this 
as  a  warning  to  America,  now  that  we  are  stepping  forward  to  be 
the  leading  nation  upon  the  globe.  The  following  anecdote  will 
illustrate  this  sentiment :  — 

A  short  time  ago,  a  small  party  of  American  military  officers  were 
travelling  upon  the  Danube.  They  met  a  party  of  Russian  ofiicers. 
The  Russians  gave  them  very  manifestly  the  cold  shoulder,  so 
repelling  the  slightest  advances  as  to  indicate  emphatically  that 
they  desired  no  acquaintance  whatever.  After  thus  travelling 
together  for  half  a  day,  one  of  the  Russian  officers  overheard  a 
remark  which  led  him  to  step  forward,  and  inquire,  ''  Gentlemen, 
may  I  take  the  liberty  to  ask  if  you  are  Americans  ?  "  —  ''  We  are," 
was  the  response.  Instantly  they  were  surrounded  with  all  cor- 
dial greetings.  "  We  beg  your  pardon,"  said  one  ;  "  we  beg  your 
pardon:  but  we  thought  you  were  English,  and  we  all  hate  the 
English." 

Mrs.  Adams  became  a  great  favorite  with  the  imperial  family.  The 
emperor,  influenced  by  the  kindliness  with  which  he  regarded  our 
minister  and  his  family,  tendered  to  the  British  Government  the 


JOHN  QUIXCT  ADAMS.  193 

offer  of  his  mediation  in  the  war  which  soon  after  broke  out  between 
Great  Britain  and  America.  Though  England  declined  the  media- 
tion, she  felt  constrained  by  the  offer  to  propose  to  treat  directly. 
Thus  peace  was  effected. 

The  Danish  Government  had  sequestered  much  American  prop- 
erty in  the  ports  of  Holstein.  Upon  an  intimation  from  Mr. 
Adams,  the  emperor  sent  word  to  that  government  that  it  would 
be  gratifying  to  him  if  the  American  property  could  be  restored  as 
soon  as  possible.  The  request  was  immediately  granted.  The 
foreign  ministers  at  the  Russian  court  were  generally  living  in  the 
greatest  magnificence  ;  but  Mr.  Adams  received  so  small  a  salary, 
that  he  was  compelled  to  practise  the  most  rigid  economy.  He 
was  expected  to  attend  the  splendid  entertainments  of  others,  but 
could  give  none  in  return.  One  morning,  as  he  was  out  walking, 
he  met  the  emperor,  who  came  cordially  up  to  him,  and,  clasping 
his  hand,  said,  — 

"  Why,  Mr.  Adams,  it  is  a  hundred  years  since  I  have  seen  you ! " 
After  some  common  observations,  he  inquired,  "  Do  you  intend 
to  take  a  house  in  the  country  this  summer?  " 

'^  No,"  Mr.  Adams  replied :  "  I  had  that  intention  for  some  time, 
but  have  given  it  up." 

"  And  why  ?  "  inquired  the  emperor.  Then,  observing  a  little 
hesitation  in  Mr.  Adams's  manner,  he  relieved  him  from  his  embar- 
rassment by  saying  in  perfect  good  humor,  and  with  a  smile, 
"  Perhaps  it  is  from  considerations  of  finance." 

"  Those  considerations  are  often  very  important,"  Mr.  Adams 
replied.  "  You  are  right,"  rejoined  the  emperor :  "  it  is  always 
necessary  to  proportion  one's  expenses  to  one's  receipts." 

While  in  Russia,  Mr.  Adams  was  an  intense  student.  He  devoted 
his  attention  to  the  language  and  history  of  Russia ;  to  the  Chinese 
trade  ;  to  the  European  system  of  weights,  measures,  and  coins  ;  to 
the  climate,  and  astronomical  observations ;  while  he  kept  up  a 
familiar  acquaintance  with  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics.  In  all 
the  universities  of  Europe,  a  more  accomplished  scholar  could 
scarcely  be  found.  All  through  life,  the  Bible  constituted  an 
important  part  of  his  studies.  It  was  his  rule  every  day  to  read 
five  chapters.  He  also  read  with  great  attention  the  works  of 
the  most  eminent  theologians.  With  this  eagerness  in  the  pursuit 
of  knowledge,  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  should  write  to  a 
friend,  — 

25 


194  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"  I  feel  nothing  like  the  tediousness  of  time.  I  suffer  nothing 
like  ennui.  Time  is  too  short  for  me  rather  than  too  long.  If  the 
day  was  forty-eight  hours,  instead  of  twenty-four,  I  could  employ 
them  all,  if  I  had  but  eyes  and  hands  to  read  and  write." 

In  1811,  President  Madison  nominated  Mr.  Adams  to  a  seat  on 
the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States ;  but  he 
decHned  the  appointment.  As  England  had  consented,  in  response 
to  the  Russian  offer  of  mediation,  to  treat  for  peace,  Mr.  Adams 
was  appointed,  with  Mr.  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Bayard,  to  conduct  the 
negotiations.  The  commissioners  met  at  Ghent.  Mr.  Adams  took 
the  leading  part.  The  Marquis  of  Wellesley,  in  commenting  upon 
the  treaty  which  was  then  entered  into,  said  in  the  British  House 
of  Lords, — 

"  In  my  opinion,  the  American  commissioners  have  shown  the 
most  astonishing  superiority  over  the  English  during  the  whole  of 
the  correspondence." 

From  Ghent,  Mr.  Adams  went  to  Paris,  where  he  chanced  to  be 
when  the  Emperor  Napoleon  returned  from  Elba  and  again  took 
possession  of  the  Tuileries.  Mrs.  Adams  joined  him  here ;  and 
they  proceeded  together  to  London,  he  having  been  appointed 
minister  to  the  British  court.  He  arrived  in  London  on  the  25th 
of  May,  1815. 

Taking  up  his  residence  in  the  country,  about  nine  miles  from  Lon- 
don, he  again  resumed  his  vigorous  habits  of  study,  while  attend- 
ing energetically  to  his  diplomatic  duties,  and  receiving  the  atten- 
tions which  his  official  station  and  his  renown  caused  to  be  lavished 
upon  him.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adams  were  honored  with  a  private 
audience  with  the  queen,  and  were  present  at  the  marriage  of  the 
Princess  Charlotte  with  Leopold.  The  most  eminent  men  of  all 
classes  sought  Mr.  Adams's  acquaintance.  He  had  an  interview 
with  Mr.  Canning,  "  in  which  the  illustrious  statesman,"  says  Mr. 
Adams,  "  seemed  desirous  to  make  up  by  an  excess  of  civility  for 
the  feelings  he  had  so  constantly  manifested  against  us." 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1817,  Mr.  Monroe  took  the  presidential 
chair,  and  immediately  appointed  Mr.  Adams  Secretary  of  State. 
Taking  leave  of  his  numerous  friends  in  public  and  private  life 
in  Europe,  he  sailed  in  June,  1819,  for  the  United  States.  On  the 
18th  of  August,  he  again  crossed  the  threshold  of  his  home  in 
Quincy,  and,  after  an  absence  of  eight  years,  received  the  embraces 
of  his  venerable  father  and  mother,  whom  he  found  in  perfect 


JOHN  qUINCT  ADAMS.  195 

health.  After  a  short  visit  home,  he  repaired  to  Washington,  and 
entered  upon  his  new  duties,  as  thoroughly  prepared  for  them,  in 
ability,  education,  and  experience,  as  one  could  be.  During  the 
eight  years  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  Mr.  Adams  continued 
Secretary  of  State.  Few  will  now  contradict  the  assertion,  that 
the  duties  of  that  office  were  never  more  ably  discharged.  Prob- 
ably the  most  important  measure  which  Mr.  Adams  conducted 
was  the  purchase  of  Florida  from  Spain  for  five  million  dollars. 

Some  time  before  the  close  of  Mr.  Monroe's  second  term  of 
office,  new  candidates  began  to  be  presented  for  the  presidency. 
The  friends  of  Mr.  Adams  brought  forward  his  name,  urging  in 
his  favor  the  unblemished  purity  of  his  character,  his  abilities  and 
acquirements,  the  distinguished  services  he  had  rendered  his 
country,  and  his  extraordinary  familiarity  with  all  our  foreign  and 
domestic  relations. 

It  was  an  exciting  campaign.  Party  spirit  was  never  more 
bitter.  Two  hundred  and  sixty  electoral  votes  were  cast. 
Andrew  Jackson  received  ninety-nine  ;  John  Quincy  Adams,  eighty- 
four  ;  William  H.  Crawford,  forty-one ;  Henry  Clay,  thirty-seven. 
As  there  was  no  choice  by  the  people,  the  question  went  to  the 
House  of  Representatives.  Mr.  Clay  gave  the  vote  of  Kentucky 
to  Mr.  Adams,  and  he  was  elected. 

The  friends  of  all  the  disappointed  candidates  now  combined  in  a 
venomous  and  persistent  assault  upon  Mr.  Adams.  There  is 
nothing  more  disgraceful  in  the  past  history  of  our  country  than 
the  abuse  which  was  poured,  in  one  uninterrupted  stream,  upon 
this  high-minded,  upright,  patriotic  man.  There  never  was  an 
administration  more  pure  in  principles,  more  conscientiously 
devoted  to  the  best  interests  of  the  country,  than  that  of  John 
Quincy  Adams  ;  and  never,  perhaps,  was  there  an  administration 
more  unscrupulously  and  outrageously  assailed.  It  throws  a  shade 
over  one's  hopes  of  humanity  thus  to  see  patriotism  of  the  most 
exalted  character  hunted  down  as  though  it  were  the  vilest 
treason.  Mr.  Adams,  with  a  mind  enlarged  by  familiarity  with  all  the 
governments  of  Europe,  and  with  affections  glowing  with  love  for 
his  own  country,  took  his  seat  in  the  presidential  chair,  resolved 
not  to  know  any  partisanship,  but  only  to  consult  for  the  interests 
of  the  whole  republic.  He  refused  to  dismiss  any  man  from  office 
for  his  political  views.  Under  his  government,  no  man  suffered 
for  his  political  opinions.     If  ho  were  a  faitlifiil  officer,  that  was 


196  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

enough.  Bitter  must  have  been  Mr.  Adams's  disappointment  to 
find  that  the  nation  could  not  appreciate  such  nobihty  of  character 
and  conduct.  The  four  years  that  he  occupied  the  presidential  chair 
must  have  been  years  of  anguish,  imbittered  by  the  reflection,  that 
could  he  have  stooped  to  the  partisanship  of  dismissing  from  office 
every  one  who  did  not  vote  for  him,  and  of  filling  every  post  at 
his  disposal  with  those  who  would  pledge  themselves  intensely  to 
his  support,  he  might  perhaps  have  fought  ofi"  his  enemies,  and 
have  secured  a  re-election.  Virtue  does  not  always,  in  this  world, 
triumph. 

Mr.  Adams,  in  his  public  manners,  was  cold  and  repulsive ;  though 
it  is  said  that  with  his  personal  friends  he  was  at  times  very  genial. 
In  his  public  receptions  and  official  intercourse,  he  often  appeared 
"  with  a  formal  coldness,  that  froze  like  the  approach  to  an  iceberg." 
This'  chilling  address  very  seriously  detracted  from  his  popularity. 
When  the  result  of  the  election  which  placed  Mr.  Adams  in  the 
presidential  chair  was  known,  the  rival  candidates,  and  especially 
their  friends,  experienced  disappointment  amounting  to  anguish. 
Mr.  Cobb,  one  of  the  warmest  partisans  of  Mr.  Crawford;  was 
afraid  to  call  upon  him  with  the  announcement  of  his  defeat.  He 
shrank  from  witnessing  the  shock  of  his  chiefs  disappointment. 
Gen.  Jackson  was  indignant,  and  he  nursed  his  wrath  in  secret, 
while,  externally,  he  appeared  unconcerned  and  cheerful.  A  few 
days  after  the  event,  Mr.  Cobb  wrote  to  his  friends,  — 

''  The  presidential  election  is  over,  and  you  will  have  heard  the 
result.  The  clouds  were  black,  and  portentous  of  storms  of  no 
ordinary  character.  They  broke  in  one  horrid  burst,  and  straight 
dispelled.  Every  thing  here  is  silent.  The  victors  have  no  cause 
to  rejoice.  There  was  not  a  single  window  lighted  on  the  occa- 
sion. A  few  free  negroes  shouted,  '  Huzza  for  Mr.  Adams  ! '  but 
they  were  not  joined  even  by  the  cringing  populace  of  this  place. 
The  disappointed  submit  in  sullen  silence.  The  friends  of  Jack- 
son grumbled,  at  first,  like  the  rumbling  of  distant  thunder;  but 
the  old  man  himself  submitted  without  a  change  of  countenance. 
Mr.  Crawford's  friends  changed  not  their  looks.  They  command 
universal  respect.  Crawford  will  return  home,  and  we  must  do  the 
best  we  can  with  him.  Should  he  and  our  friends  wish  that  he  should 
again  go  into  the  Senate,  the  way  shall  be  open  for  him.  I  am  sick 
and  tired  of  every  thing  here,  and  wish  for  nothing  so  much  as 
private  life.     My  ambition  is  dead." 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  197 

The  evening  after  the  election,  Mr.  Monroe  held  a  presidential 
levee.  All  Washington  crowded  to  the  White  House,  eager  to 
pay  homage  to  the  rising  sun.  Mr.  S.  G.  Goodrich  happened  to 
be  present,  and  with  his  graphic  pen  has  described  the  scene  :  — 

"  I  shall  pass  over,"  he  writes,  "  other  individuals  present,  only 
noting  an  incident  which  respects  the  two  persons  in  the  assem- 
bly, who,  most  of  all  others,  engrossed  the  thoughts  of  the  visitors, 
—  Mr.  Adams  the  elect,  Gen.  Jackson  the  defeated.  It  chanced 
in  the  course  of  the  evening,  that  these  two  persons,  involved  in 
the  throng,  approached  each  other  from  opposite  directions,  yet 
without  knowing  it.  Suddenly,  as  they  were  almost  together,  the 
persons  around,  seeing  what  was  to  happen,  by  a  sort  of  instinct 
stepped  aside,  and  left  them  face  to  face.  Mr.  Adams  was  by  him- 
self:  Gen.  Jackson  had  a  large,  handsome  lady  on  his  arm.  They 
looked  at  each  other  for  a  moment ;  and  then  Gen.  Jackson  moved 
forward,  and,  reaching  out  his  long  arm,  said,  '  How  do  you  do, 
Mr.  Adams?  I  give  you  my  left  hand  ;  for  the  right,  as  you  see,  is 
devoted  to  the  fair,  I  hope  you  are  very  well,  sir.'  All  this  was  gal- 
lantly and  heartily  said  and  done.  Mr.  Adams  took  the  general's 
hand,  and  said,  with  chilling  coldness, '  Very  well,  sir  :  I  hope  Gen. 
Jackson  is  well.' 

"  It  was  curious  to  see  the  Western  planter,  the  Indian  fighter, 
the  stern  soldier,  who  had  written  his  country's  glory  in  the  blood 
of  the  enemy  at  New  Orleans,  genial  and  gracious  in  the  midst  of 
a  court ;  while  the  old  courtier  and  diplomat  was  stiff,  rigid,  cold  as 
a  statue.  It  was  all  the  more  remarkable  from  the  fact,  that,  four 
hours  before,  the  former  had  been  defeated,  and  the  latter  was  the 
victor,  in  a  struggle  for  one  of  the  highest  objects  of  human  ambi- 
tion. The  personal  character  of  these  two  individuals  was,  in  fact, 
well  expressed  in  that  chance-meeting,  —  the  gallantry,  the  frank- 
ness, the  heartiness,  of  the  one,  which  captivated  all ;  the  coldness, 
the  distance,  the  self  concentration,  of  the  other,  which  repelled 
all." 

No  one  can  read  the  impartial  record  of  John  Quincy  Adams's 
administration  without  admitting  that  a  more  noble  example  of 
uncompromising  integrity  can  scarcely  be  found.  It  was  stated 
publicly  that  Mr.  Adams's  administration  was  to  be  put  down, 
"  though  it  be  as  pure  as  the  angels  which  stand  at  the  right  hand 
of  the  throne  of  God."  Not  a  few  of  the  active  participants  in 
those  scenes  lived  to  regret  the  course  they  pursued.      Some 


198  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

years  after,  Mr.  Warren  R.  Davis  of  South  Carolina,  turning  to 
Mr.  Adams,  then  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
said,  — 

""Well  do  I  remember  the  enthusiastic  zeal  with  which  we 
reproached  the  administration  of  that  gentleman,  and  the  ardor  and 
vehemence  with  which  we  labored  to  bring  in  another.  For  the 
share  I  had  in  those  transactions,  —  and  it  was  not  a  small  one, 
—  I  hope  God  will  forgive  me;  for  I  never  shall  forgive  myself.'^ 

Mr.  Adams  was,  to  a  very  remarkable  degree,  abstemious  and 
temperate  in  his  habits ;  always  rising  early,  and  taking  much 
exercise.  When  at  his  home  in  Quincy,  he  has  been  known  to 
walk  seven  miles  to  Boston  before  breakfast.  In  Washington,  it 
was  said  that  he  was  the  first  man  up  in  the  city,  lighting  his  own 
fire,  and  applying  himself  to  work  in  his  library  often  long  before 
the  dawn.  He  was  an  expert  swimmer,  and  was  exceedingly  fond 
of  bathing ;  and  was  in  the  habit  in  the  summer,  every  morning,  of 
plunging  into  the  Potomac  with  all  the  sportiveness  of  a  boy.  He 
sometimes  made  the  journey  from  Quincy  to  Washington  on 
horseback,  accompanied  by  a  single  attendant. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1829,  Mr.  Adams  retired  from  the  presi- 
dency, and  was  succeeded  by  Andrew  Jackson.  John  C.  Calhoun 
was  elected  Vice-President.  The  slavery  question  now  began  to 
assume  portentous  magnitude.  Mr.  Adams  returned  to  Quincy 
and  to  his  studies,  which  he  pursued  with  unabated  zeal.  But  he 
was  not  long  permitted  to  remain  in  retirement.  In  November, 
1830,  he  was  elected  representative  to  Congress.  He  thus  recog- 
nized the  Roman  principle,  that  it  is  honorable  for  the  general  of 
yesterday  to  act  as  corporal  to-day,  if  by  so  doing  he  can  render 
service  to  his  country.  Deep  as  are  the  obligations  of  our  repub- 
lic to  John  Quincy  Adams  for  his  services  as  ambassador,  as  Secre- 
tary of  State,  and  as  President,  in  his  capacity  as  legislator  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  he  conferred  benefits  upon  our  land 
which  eclipsed  all  the  rest,  and  which  can  never  be  over-esti- 
mated. 

For  seventeen  years,  until  his  death,  he  occupied  the  post  of 
representative,  towering  above  all  his  peers,  ever  ready  to  do 
brave  battle  for  freedom,  and  winning  the  title  of  "  the  old  man 
eloquent."  Upon  taking  his  seat  in  the  house,  he  announced  that 
he  should  hold  himself  bound  to  no  party.  Probably  there  was 
never  a  member  of  the  house  more  devoted  to  his  duties.    He  was 


JOHN  quINCY  ADAMS.  199 

usually  the  first  in  his  place  in  the  morning,  and  the  last  to  leave 
his  seat  in  the  evening.  Not  a  measure  could  be  brought  forward, 
and  escape  his  scrutiny.  The  battle  which  Mr.  Adams  fought, 
almost  singly,  against  the  proslavery  party  in  the  Government, 
was  sublime  in  its  moral  daring  and  heroism.  For  persisting  in 
presenting  petitions  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  he  was  threatened 
with  indictment  by  the  grand  jury,  with  expulsion  from  the  house, 
with  assassination ;  but  no  threats  could  intimidate  him,  and  his 
final  triumph  was  complete. 

On  one  occasion,  Mr.  Adams  presented  a  petition,  signed  by  sev- 
eral women,  against  the  annexation  of  Texas  for  the  purpose  of 
cutting  it  up  into  slave  States.  Mr.  Howard  of  Maryland  said 
that  these  women  discredited  not  only  themselves,  but  their  sec- 
tion of  the  country,  by  turning  from  their  domestic  duties  to  the 
conflicts  of  political  life. 

"  Are  women,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Adams,  "  to  have  no  opinions  or 
actions  on  subjects  relating  to  the  general  Avelfare  ?  Where  did  the 
gentleman  get  this  principle  ?  Did  he  find  it  in  sacred  history,  —  in 
the  language  of  Miriam  the  prophetess,  in  one  of  the  noblest  and 
most  sublime  songs  of  triumph  that  ever  met  the  human  eye  or 
ear?  Did  the  gentleman  never  hear  of  Deborah,  to  whom  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  came  up  for  judgment?  Has  he  forgotten  the  deed 
of  Jael,  who  slew  the  dreaded  enemy  of  her  country?  Has  he 
forgotten  Esther,  who  by  her  petition  saved  her  people  and  her 
country  ? 

"  To  go  from  sacred  history  to  profane,  does  the  gentleman  there 
find  it '  discreditable '  for  women  to  take  an  interest  in  political 
afiairs  ?  Has  he  forgotten  the  Spartan  mother,  who  said  to  her  son, 
when  going  out  to  battle,  '  My  son,  come  back  to  me  with  thy 
shield,  or  upon  thy  shield  '  ?  Does  he  not  remember  Cloelia  and  her 
hundred  companions,  who  swam  across  the  river,  under  a  shower 
of  darts  escaping  from  Porsena  ?  Has  he  forgotten  Cornelia,  the 
mother  of  the  Gracchi  ?  Does  he  not  remember  Portia,  the  wife  of 
Brutus  and  the  daughter  of  Cato  ? 

"  To  come  to  later  periods,  what  says  the  history  of  our  Anglo > 
Saxon  ancestors  ?  To  say  nothing  of  Boadicea,  the  British  heroinj® 
in  the  time  of  the  Ceesars,  what  name  is  more  illustrious  than  that 
of  Elizabeth  ?  Or,  if  he  will  go  to  the  Continent,  will  he  not  find  the- 
names  of  Maria  Theresa  of  Hungary,  of  the  two  Catharines  of 
Russia,  and  of  Isabella  of  Castillo,  the  patroness  of  Columbus.  DidI 
she  bring  '  discredit '  on  her  sex  by  mingling  in  politics  ?  " 


200  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

In  this  glowing  strain,  he  silenced  and  overwhelmed  his  antago- 
nists. Congress,  yielding  to  the  proslavery  spirit  of  the  South, 
passed  a  resolve  in  January,  1837,  "  that  all  petitions  relating  to 
slavery,  without  being  printed  or  referred,  shall  be  laid  on  the 
table,  and  no  action  shall  be  had  thereon."  Some  of  the  proslavery 
party  forged  a  petition,  as  if  from  slaves,  to  see  if  Mr.  Adams 
would  dare  to  present  it. 

On  the  6th  of  February,  1837,  Mr.  Adams  rose  with  this  forged 
petition  in  his  hand,  and  said,  "  I  hold  a  paper  purporting  to  come 
from  slaves.  I  wish  to  know  if  such  a  paper  comes  within  the 
order  of  the  house  respecting  petitions." 

The  strange  sensitiveness  of  the  house  upon  this  subject  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact,  that  a  storm  of  indignation  was  instantly 
roused.  Waddy  Thompson  of  South  Carolina,  Charles  E.  Haynes 
of  Georgia,  Dixon  H.  Lewis  of  Alabama,  sprang  to  the  floor,  pre- 
senting resolutions,  ''that  John  Quincy  Adams,  by  attempting  to 
present  a  petition  purporting  to  be  from  slaves,  has  been  guilty  of 
gross  disrespect  to  the  house,  and  that  he  be  instantly  brought  to 
the  bar  to  receive  the  severe  censure  of  the  speaker." 

Never  were  assailants  more  thoroughly  discomfited.  "Mr. 
Speaker,"  said  Mr.  Adams,  "  to  prevent  the  consumption  of  time,  I 
ask  the  gentlemen  to  modify  their  resolution  a  little,  so  that,  when 
I  come  to  the  bar  of  the  house,  I  may  not,  by  a  word,  put  an  end 
to  it.  I  did  not  present  tke  petition.  I  said  that  I  had  a  paper  pur- 
porting to  be  a  petition  from  slaves ;  and  I  asked  the  speaker 
whether  he  considered  such  a  paper  as  included  in  the  general 
order  of  the  house,  that  all  petitions  relating  to  slavery  should  be 
laid  upon  the  table.  I  intended  to  take  the  decision  of  the  speaker 
before  I  went  one  step  toward  presenting  that  petition.  This  is 
the  fact. 

"  I  adhere  to  the  right  of  petition.  Where  is  your  law  which 
says  the  mean,  the  low,  the  degraded,  shall  be  deprived  of  the  right 
of  petition  ?  Petition  is  supplication,  entreaty,  prayer.  Where  is  the 
degree  of  vice  or  immorality  which  shall  deprive  the  citizen  of 
the  right  to  supplicate  for  a  boon,  or  to  pray  for  mercy  ?  Where  is 
such  a  law  to  be  found  ?  It  does  not  belong  to  the  most  abject 
despotisn".  There  is  no  absolute  monarch  on  earth,  who  is  not 
compellfd,  by  the  constitution  of  his  country,  to  receive  the  peti- 
tions of  his  people,  whosoever  they  may  be.  The  Sultan  of  Con- 
stantinople cannot  walk  the  streets,  and  refuse  to  receive  petitions 


jonx  quiNCY  adams.  201 

from  the  meanest  and  vilest  in  the  land.  The  right  of  petition 
belongs  to  all ;  and,  so  far  from  refusing  to  present  a  petition 
because  it  might  come  from  those  low  in  the  estimation  of  the 
world,  it  would  be  an  additional  incentive,  if  such  an  incentive 
were  wanting." 

After  a  debate  of  extreme  bitterness,  running  through  four  days, 
only  twenty  votes  could  be  found  to  cast  any  censure  upon  Mr. 
Adams.  There  was  perhaps  never  a  fiercer  battle  fought  in  legis- 
lative halls  than  Mr.  Adams  waged,  for  nearly  a  score  of  years, 
with  the  partisans  of  slavery  in  Congress.  In  every  encounter,  he 
came  off  victor.  "We  have  not  space,  in  this  brief  sketch,  to  refer 
to  his  labors  to  secure  a  right  appropriation  for  the  Smithsonian 
Fund  of  half  a  million  of  dollars.  At  the  age  of  seventy-four,  he 
appeared  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  after  an 
absence  from  that  court  of  thirty  years,  to  plead  the  cause  of  a 
few  friendless  negroes^  the  Amistad  captives,  who,  with  their  own 
strong  arms,  had  freed  themselves  from  the  man-stealers.  His 
effort  was  crowned  with  complete  success ;  and  the  poor  Africans, 
abundantly  furnished  with  the  implements  of  civilized  life,  were 
returned  to  the  homes  from  which  they  had  been  so  ruthlessly 
torn. 

In  1839,  Congress  was  for  a  time  seriously  disorganized  in  con- 
sequence of  two  delegations  appearing  from  New  Jersey,  each 
claiming  the  election.  By  usage,  the  clerk  of  the  preceding  Con- 
gress, on  the  first  assembling,  acts  as  chairman  until  a  speaker  is 
chosen.  When,  in  calling  the  roll,  the  clerk  came  to  New  Jersey, 
he  stated,  that,  as  the  five  seats  of  the  members  from  that  State  were 
contested,  he  should  pass  over  those  names.  A  violent  debate 
ensued.  For  four  days  there  was  anarchy,  and  it  was  found  im- 
possible to  organize  the  house.  Mr.  Adams,  during  all  this  scene 
of  confusion,  sat  quietly  engaged  in  writing,  apparently  taking  no 
interest  in  the  debate,  but,  like  a  sagacious  general  on  the  battle 
field,  watching  intently  for  the  moment  when  he  could  effectually 
make  a  movement. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day,  the  clerk  again  commenced 
calling  the  roll.  When  he  reached  New  Jersey,  he  again  repeated, 
"  as  these  seats  are  contested ;  "  when  Mr.  Adams  sprang  to  the 
floor,  and  in  clear,  shrill  tones,  which  penetrated  every  portion  of 
the  house,  cried  out,  — 

"  I  rise  to  intefrupt  the  clerk."  , 

26 


202  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

A  multitude  of  voiQes  shouted,  ''  Hear  him  !  hear  him  !  —  hear 
John  Quincy  Adams  !  " 

In  an  instant,  there  was  profound  silence.  Every  eye  was 
riveted  upon  that  venerable  old  man,  whose  years  and  honors, 
and  purity  of  character,  commanded  the  respect  of  the  bitterest 
of  his  foes.  For  a  moment  he  paused  ;  and  there  was  such  stillness, 
that  the  fall  of  a  sheet  of  paper  might  have  been  heard.  Then,  in 
those  tones  of  intensity  which  ever  arrested  the  attention  of  the 
house,  he  said,  — 

"  It  was  not  my  intention  to  take  any  part  in  these  extraordinary 
proceedings.  I  had  hoped  that  this  house  would  succeed  in  organ 
izing  itself.  This  is  not  the  time  or  place  to  discuss  the  merits  of  con- 
flicting claimants  :  that  subject  belongs  to  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. What  a  spectacle  we  here  present !  We  do  not  and  cannot  or- 
ganize :  and  why?  Because  the  clerk  of  this  house — the  mere 
clerk,  whom  we  create,  whom  we  employ  —  usurps  the  throne,  and 
sets  us,  the  vicegerents  of  the  whole  American  people,  at  defiance. 
And  what  is  this  clerk  of  yours  ?  Is  he  to  suspend,  by  his  mere  nega- 
tive, the  functions  of  Government,  and  put  an  end  to  this  Congress. 
He  refuses  to  call  the  roll.  It  is  in  your  power  to  compel  him  to 
call  it,  if  he  will  not  do  it  voluntarily." 

Here  he  was  interrupted  by  a  member,  who  stated  that  the 
clerk  could  not  be  compelled  to  call  the  roll,  as  he  would  resign 
rather  than  do  so. 

"  Well  sir,  let  him  resign,"  continued  Mr.  Adams, ''  and  we  may 
possibly  discover  some  way  by  which  we  can  get  along  without 
the  aid  of  his  all-powerful  talent,  learning,  and  genius.  If  we  can- 
not organize  in  any  other  way,  if  this  clerk  of  yours  will  not  con- 
sent to  our  discharging  the  trust  confided  to  us  by  our  constituents, 
then  let  us  imitate  the  example  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses, 
which,  when  the  colonial  Gov.  Dinwiddle  ordered  it  to  disperse, 
refused  to  obey  the  imperious  and  insulting  mandate,  and  like 
men  "  — 

Here  there  was  such  a  burst  of  applause  from  the  whole  house, 
that,  for  a  moment,  his  voice  was  drowned.  Cheer  upon  cheer 
rose,  shaking  the  walls  of  the  Capitol.  As  soon  as  he  could  again 
be  heard,  he  submitted  a  motion,  requiring  the  clerk  to  call  the 
roll.  "  How  shall  the  question  be  put?  "  The  voice  of  Mr.  Adams 
was  heard  rising  above  the  tumult,  as  he  cried  out,  "  I  intend  to 
put  the  question  myself  !  " 


JOHN  qUINCY  ADAMS. 


203 


Another  burst  of  applause  followed ;  when  Mr.  Barnwell  Rhett 
of  South  Carolina  leaped  upon  one  of  the  desks,  and  shouted,  "  I 


JOHN  QUINCT  ADAMS   IN   THE   HOUSE  OF    REPRESENTATIVES. 

move  that  the  Hon.  John  Quincy  Adams  take  the  chair  of  the 
speaker  of  the  house,  and  ojfficiate  as  presiding  officer  till  the  house 
be  organized  by  the  election  of  its  constitutional  officers.  As  many 
as  are  agreed  to  this  will  say  '  Ay  ! '  " 

One  universal,  thundering  "  Ay  ! "  came  back  in  response.  Mr. 
Adams  was  conducted  to  the  chair,  and  the  house  was  organized. 
Mr.  Wise  of  Virginia,  soon  after  addressing  him,  said, — 

"  Sir,  I  regard  it  as  the  proudest  hour  of  your  life  ;  and  if,  when 
you  shall  be  gathered  to  your  fathers,  I  were  asked  to  select  the 
words,  which,  in  my  judgment,  are  best  calculated  to  give  at  once 
the  character  of  the  man,  I  would  inscribe  upon  your  tomb  this 
sentence,  '  I  will  put  the  question  myself.'  " 

In  January,  1842,  Mr.  Adams  presented  a  petition  from  forty- 
five  citizens  of  Haverhill,  Mass.,  praying  for  the  peaceable  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Union.  The  proslavery  party  in  Congress,  who  were 
then  plotting  the  destruction  of  the  Government,  were  roused  to  a 


204  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

pretence  of  commotion  such  as  even  our  stormy  hall  of  legislation 
has  rarely  witnessed.  They  met  in  caucus,  and,  finding  that  they 
probably  would  not  be  able  to  expel  Mr.  Adams  from  the  house, 
drew  up  a  series  of  resolutions,  which,  if  adopted,  would  inflict 
upon  him  disgrace  equivalent  to  expulsion.  Mr.  Adams  had  pre- 
sented the  petition,  which  was  most  respectfully  worded,  and  had 
moved  that  it  be  referred  to  a  committee  instructed  to  report  an 
answer,  showing  the  reasons  why  the  prayer  ought  not  to  be 
granted. 

It  was  the  25th  of  January.  The  whole  body  of  the  proslavery 
party  came  crowding  together  into  the  house,  prepared  to  crush 
Mr.  Adams  forever.  One  of  their  number,  Thomas  F.  Marshall  of 
Kentucky,  was  appointed  to  read  the  resolutions,  which  accused 
Mr.  Adams  of  high  treason,  of  having  insulted  the  Government, 
and  of  meriting  expulsion  ;  but  for  which  deserved  punishment,  the 
house,  in  its  great  mercy,  would  substitute  its  severest  censure. 
With  the  assumption  of  a  very  solemn  and  magisterial  air,  there 
being  breathless  silence  in  the  imposing  audience,  Mr.  Marshall 
hurled  the  carefully  prepared  anathemas  at  his  victim.  Mr. 
Adams  stood  alone,  the  whole  proslavery  party  madly  against  him. 

As  soon  as  the  resolutions  were  read,  every  eye  being  fixed  upon 
him,  up  rose  that  bold  old  man,  whose  scattered  locks  were  whi- 
tened by  seventy -five  years  ;  and  casting  a  withering  glance  in  the 
direction  of  his  assailants,  in  a  clear,  shrill  tone,  tremulous  with 
suppressed  emotion,  he  said,  — 

"  In  reply  to  this  audacious,  atrocious  charge  of  high  treason,  I 
call  for  the  reading  of  the  first  paragraph  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  Read  it,  read  it !  and  see  what  that  says  of  the 
right  of  a  people  to  reform,  to  change,  and  to  dissolve  their  Gov- 
ernment." 

The  attitude,  the  manner,  the  tone,  the  words  ;  the  venerable  old 
man,  with  flashing  eye  and  flushed  check,  and  whose  very  form 
seemed  to  expand  under  the  inspiration  of  the  occasion,  —  all  pre- 
sented a  scene  overawing  in  its  sublimity.  There  was  breathless 
silence  as  that  paragraph  was  read,  in  defence  of  whose  principles, 
our  fathers  had  pledged  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred 
honor.  It  was  a  proud  hour  to  Mr.  Adams  as  they  were  all  com- 
pelled to  listen  to  the  words,  — 

"  That,  to  secure  these  rights,  governments  are  instituted  among 
men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed ; 


JOHN  qUINCY  ADAMS.  205 

and  that,  whenever  any  form  of  government  becomes  destructive 
of  those  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  abolish  it,  and 
to  institute  new  government,  laying  its  foundations  on  such  prin- 
ciples, and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form,  as  shall  seem  most 
likely  to  effect  their  safety  and  happiness." 

That  one  sentence  baffled  and  routed  the  foe.  The  heroic  old 
man  looked  around  upon  the  audience,  and  thundered  out,  "  Read 
that  again ! "  It  was  again  read.  Then,  in  a  few  fiery,  logical 
words,  he  stated  his  defence  in  terms  which  even  prejudiced  minds 
could  not  resist.  His  discomfited  assailants  made  sundry  attempts 
to  rally.  After  a  conflict  of  eleven  days,  they  gave  up  vanquished, 
and  their  resolution  was  ignominiously  laid  upon  the  table. 

It  is  pleasant  to  see  that  such  heroism  is  eventually  appreciated. 
In  the  summer  of  1 843,  Mr.  Adams  took  a  tour  through  Western 
New  York.  His  journey  was  a  perfect  ovation.  In  all  the  lead- 
ing cities,  he  was  received  with  the  highest  marks  of  consideration. 
The  whole  mass  of  the  people  rose  to  confer  honor  upon  the  man 
who  had  battled  so  nobly  for  human  rights,  and  whose  public  and 
private  character  was  without  a  stain.  The  greeting  which  he 
received  at  Buffalo  was  such  as  that  city  had  never  before  con- 
ferred upon  any  man.  The  national  flag  was  floating  from  every 
masthead.  The  streets  were  thronged  with  the  multitude,  who 
greeted  with  bursts  of  applause  the  renowned  patriot  and  states- 
man as  soon  as  he  appeared.  The  Hon.  Millard  Fillmore,  subse- 
quently President  of  the  United  States,  welqomed  him  in  the  fol- 
lowing words :  — 

''  You  see  here  assembled  the  people  of  our  infant  city,  without 
distinction  of  party,  sex,  age,  or  condition,  —  all,  all,  anxiously  vy- 
ing with  each  other  to  show  their  respect  and  esteem  for  your 
public  and  private  worth.  Here  are  gathered,  in  this  vast  multi- 
tude of  what  must  appear  to  you  strange  faces,  thousands  whose 
hearts  have  vibrated  to  the  chord  of  sympathy  which  your  speeches 
have  touched.  Here  is  reflecting  age,  and  ardent  youth,  and  lisp- 
ing childhood,  to  all  of  whom  your  venerated  name  is  dear  as 
household  words,  —  all  anxious  to  feast  their  eyes  by  a  sight  of 
that  extraordinary  and  venerable  man,  that  old  man  eloquent,  upon 
whose  lips  Wisdom  has  distilled  her  choicest  nectar.  Here  you  see 
them  all,  and  read  in  their  eager  and  joy-gladdened  couitenances, 
and  brightly  beaming  eyes,  a  welcome,  a  thrice-told,  heartfelt, 
soul-stirring  welcome,  to  the  man  whom  they  delight  to  honor." 


206  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

In 'January,  1846,  when  seventy-eight  years  of  age,  he  took  part 
in  the  great  debate  on  the  Oregon  question,  displaying  intellectual 
vigor,  and  an  extent  and  accuracy  of  acquaintance  with  the  sub- 
ject, which  excited  great  admiration.  At  the  close  of  the  session, 
on  the  17th  of  November,  he  had  an  attack  of  paralysis  while  walk- 
ing  in  the  streets  of  Boston.  He,  however,  so  far  recovered,  that 
he  soon  resumed  his  official  duties  in  "Washington.  As  he  entered 
the  house  on  the  16th  of  February,  1847,  for  the  first  time  since 
his  illness,  every  member  instinctively  rose  in  token  of  respect ; 
and  by  two  members  he  was  formally  conducted  to  his  seat.  After 
this,  though  constantly  present,  he  took  but  little  part  in  the 
debates. 

It  has  been  said  of  President  Adams,  that  when  his  body  was 
bent  and  his  hair  silvered  by  the  lapse  of  fourscore  years,  yield- 
ing to  the  simple  faith  of  a  little  child,  he  was  accustomed  to  repeat 
every  night,  before  he  slept,  the  prayer  which  his  mother  taught 
him  in  his  infant  years.  There  is  great  moral  beauty  in  the  aspect 
of  the  venerable,  world-worn  statesman,  folding  his  hands  and  clos- 
ing his  eyes,  as  he  repeated,  in  the  simplicity  and  sincerity  of 
childhood,  the  words,  — 

"  Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep, 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  keep  : 
If  I  should  die  before  I  wake, 
I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  take." 

On  the  21st  of  February,  1848,  he  rose  on  the  floor  of  Congress, 
with  a  paper  in  his  hand,  to  address  the  speaker.  Suddenly  he  fell, 
again  stricken  by  paralysis,  and  was  caught  in  the  arms  of  those 
around  him.  For  a  time  he  was  senseless,  as  he  was  conveyed  to 
u  sofa  in  the  rotunda.  With  reviving  consciousness,  he  opened  his 
eyes,  looked  calmly  around,  and  said,  "  This  is  the  end  of  earth  ;  " 
tlien,  after  a  moment's  pause,  he  added,  "7  am  content.''^  These 
were  his  last  words.  His  family  were  summoned  to  his  side  ;  and 
in  the  apartment  of  the  speaker  of  the  house,  beneath  the  dome 
of  the  Capitol,  —  the  theatre  of  his  labors  and  his  triumphs,  —  he 
soon  breathed  his  last. 

The  voices  of  denunciation  were  now  hushed,  and  all  parties 
united  in  tributes  of  honor  to  one  of  the  purest  patriots,  and  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  statesmen,  America  has  produced. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ANDREW    JACKSON. 

Birth  and  Education.  —  A  Bad  Boy.  —  Keeps  School.  —  Studies  Law.  —  Emigrates.  —  Frontier 
Life.  —  Low  Tastes.  —  A  Representative.  —  Senator.  —  Judge.  —  Shop-keeper.  —  Major- 
Geueral.  —  Quarrels  and  Duels.  —  Marriage  and  its  Romance.  —  Fight  with  the  Ben- 
tons. —  War  with  the  Indians.  —  Defence  of  New  Orleans.  —  Passion  and  Violence. — 
President  of  the  United  States.  —  Administration.  —  Retirement.  —  Conversion.  —  Re- 
ligious Character.  —  Death. 

"  Paint  me  as  1  am/'  said  Cromwell  to  the  young  artist.    There 
were  lights  and  shades  in  the  character  of  Andrew  Jackson,  and 


HERMITAGE, — RESIDENCE    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON. 

the  world  wishes  to  know  him  as  he  was.  One  hundred  years 
ago,  in  1765,  an  Irishman  of  Scotch  descent,  extremely  poor, 
emigrated,  with  his  wife  and  two  infant  children,  from  the  North 

207 


208  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

of  Ireland  to  South  Carolina,  George  III.  had  then  been  five 
years  on  his  throne.  The  old  French  war,  which  gave  Canada  to 
England,  had  just  ended.  The  humble  emigrants  had  no  money 
to  purchase  land.  They,  however,  landing  at  Charleston,  pene- 
trated the  wild  interior,  in  a  north-west  direction,  a  hundred  and 
sixty  miles,  and  built  their  log  hut  on  a  branch  of  the  Catawba 
River,  called  Waxhaw  Creek,  formerly  the  seat  of  the  Waxhaw 
Indians.    They  were  on  the  boundary-line  between  the  Carolinas. 

The  lonely  settlers  in  this  wilderness  of  pines  had  reared  their 
cabin,  cleared  an  opening  in  the  forest,  and  raised  one  crop, 
when  the  husband  and  father  fell  sick  and  died.  Mrs.  Jackson, 
with  her  two  little  boys,  and  just  on  the  eve  of  again  becoming  a 
mother,  was  thus  left  in  utter  destitution.  Not  far  from  the  cabin 
of  the  deceased,  there  was  a  room  built  of  logs,  called  a  church. 
The  corpse  was  taken  in  a  wagon  ;  the  widow  and  her  two  chil- 
dren sat  by  its  side ;  and  in  a  field  near  by  the  body  was 
buried,  no  one  can  now  tell  where. 

The  griefstricken  widow  did  not  return  to  her  desolated  home. 
There  was  nothing  to  draw  her  there.  From  the  grave,  she 
drove  a  few  miles  to  the  cabin  of  Mr.  McKennej",  who  had  married 
her  sister,  and  who  lived  across  the  border,  in  North  Carolina. 
There,  in  that  lonely  log  hut,  in  the  extreme  of  penury,  with  a 
few  friendly  women  to  come  to  her  aid,  she,  within  a  few  days, 
gave  birth  to  Andrew  Jackson,  the  child  whose  fame  as  a  man 
has  filled  the  civilized  world.  It  was  the  loth  of  March,  17GT. 
A  few  lines  tell  this  story.  But  where  is  the  pencil  or  the  pen 
which  can  delineate  its  true  pathos?  —  the  cabin, the  pain-crushed, 
heart-stricken  mother,  the  clotheless  babe,  the  coarse  fare,  the 
penury,  the  wild  surroundings,  and  the  cheerlessness  with  which 
the  dark  future  opened  before  the  widow  and  the  orphans. 

Could  some  good  angel  then  have  opened  to  that  Christian 
mother  (for  she  was  a  true  Christian  of  the  Presbyterian  faith)  the 
future  career  of  her  son, — his  renown,  his  influence,  his  conversion  \ 
to  Christ,  his  triumphant  death,  and  that  honor,  glory,  and  immor- 
tality to  which  we  trust  he  has  attained  in  the  spirit-land, —  she 
might  have  smiled  through  her  anguish,  and  exclaimed,  "These 
light  afiiictions  are  indeed  but  for  a  moment,  and  work  out  for  us 
a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory."  Mother  and 
child  have  long  ago  met  in  heaven,  and  earthly  griefs  are  gone 
forever. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  209 

Three  weeks  after  the  birth  of  Andrew,  the  widow,  leaving  her 
eldest  little  boy  with  Mr.  McKenney,  went  with  the  babe  and  the 
other  child  a  distance  of  two  miles  to  the  cabin  of  another  brother- 
in-law,  Mr.  Crawford,  whose  wife  was  an  invalid.  Here  Mrs. 
Jackson  remained  Avith  her  children  for  ten  years,  receiving  the 
hospitality  of  her  kind  brother,  and  repaying  it,  as  far  as  possible, 
by  that  hard  work  of  washing,  mending,  and  cooking,  which  is 
inseparable  from  frontier-life. 

Andrew,  or  Andy  as  he  was  universally  called,  grew  up  a  very 
rough,  rnde,  turbulent  boy.  His  features  were  coarse,  his  form 
ungainly  ;  and  there  was  but  very  little  in  his  character,  made 
visible,  which  was  attractive.  A  companion  said  of  him,  "  Andy 
is  the  only  bully  I  ever  knew  who  was  not  a  coward."  A 
mother's  prayers  must  have  been  ascending  earnestly  for  him ;  for 
even  then,  in  her  utter  penury,  she  was  endeavoring  to  devise 
some  way  by  which  she  could  educate  him  for  the  Christian 
ministry. 

When  five  or  six  years  of  age,  he  was  sent  to  what  was  called 
a  school,  in  a  wretched  log  pen  about  twenty  feet  square.  Here 
he  learned  to  read  tolerably  well.  Spelling  was  an  art  which  he 
never  attained.  He  learned  to  write  in  characters  which  those 
skilful  in  hieroglyphics  could  read.  He  also  became  somewhat 
familiar  with  the  four  fundamental  rules  of  arithmetic.  This 
seems  to  be  about  the  substance  of  all  the  school  education  he 
ever  received. 

He  grew  up  to  be  a  tall,  lank  boy,  with  coarse  hair  and  freckled 
cheeks,  with  bare  feet  dangling  from  trousers  too  short  for  him, 
very  fond  of  athletic  sports,  running,  boxing,  wrestling.  He  was 
generous  to  the  younger  and  weaker  boys,  but  very  irascible  and 
overbearing  with  his  equals  and  superiors.  He  was  profane, 
marvellously  profane,  —  a  vice  in  which  he  surpassed  all  other  men, 
and  which  clung  to  him,  until,  after  the  age  of  threescore  years, 
he  learned  of  Christ  to  "  swear  not  at  all." 

The  character  of  his  mother  he  revered ;  and  it  was  not  until 
after  her  death  that  his  predominant  vices  gained  full  strength. 
Through  some  unknown  influence,  he  imbibed  such  a  reverence 
for  the  character  of  woman,  and  such  firm  principles  of  purity, 
that  in  that  respect  he  was  without  reproach. 

When  nine  years  of  age,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
signed.     The  billows  of  war  soon  swept  down  into  the  Carolinas, 

27 


210  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

bringing  terror,  blood,  and  desolation  to  the  humble  cabins  of 
the  Waxhaw.  More  intense  was  the  animosity,  and  more  bitter 
the  strife,  between  the  patriot  and  the  tory,  than  between  the 
armies  which  were  facing  each  other  in  the  field.  As  Tarleton  and 
his  dragoons  came  thundering  along,  the  older  brother,  Hugh,  not 
yet  eighteen  years  of  age,  rode  with  a  volunteer  company  to 
meet  him,  and  died  of  heat  and  exhaustion  at  the  battle  of  Stono. 

With  three  hundred  horsemen,  Tarleton-  surprised  a  detachment 
of  militia  at  the  Waxhaw  settlement,  killed  one  hundred  and  thir- 
teen, wounded  one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  captured  or  put  to  fiight 
all  the  rest.  The  old  log  meeting-house  was  used  as  a  hospital. 
Mrs.  Jackson  was  unwearied  in  nursing  the  wounded  soldiers. 
Andrew,  a  boy  of  thirteen,  and  his  brother,  assisted  their  mother 
in  these  works  of  mercy.  Andrew  at  times  expressed  the  most 
intense  desire  to  avenge  their  wounds  and  his  brother's  death. 

In  August,  1780,  the  victorious  army  of  Cornwallis  rushed 
upon  Waxhaw ;  and  Mrs.  Jackson,  with  her  two  boys,  fled  before 
them.  Andrew  was  placed  in  the  family  of  Mrs.  Wilson,  in  Char- 
lotte, where  he  paid  for  his  board  by  being  a  servant  of  all  work. 
Here  his  rage  against  the  British  found  vent  in  forming  various 
kinds  of  weapons,  which  he  would  swing,  expressing  the  delight 
it  would  give  him  thus  to  beat  the  British  down.  He  remained 
in  this  place  for  about  six  months,  and  then  the  family  returned 
to  their  ravaged  home  at  Waxhaw.  Andrew  was  now  fourteen, 
tall  as  a  man,  but  slender  and  weak  from  his  rapid  growth. 
Terrible  was  the  maddened  strife  in  that  neighborhood  between 
whig  and  tory.  A  band  of  tories  made  a  midnight  attack  upon  the 
house  of  a  whig.  Andrew  Jackson  was  there  as  one  of  the  guard. 
Quite  a  little  battle  ensued,  in  which  he  behaved  gallantly,  and  the 
tories  were  repulsed.  This  was  the  first  time  he  took  part  in  active 
service.  Cornwallis  sent  a  body  of  dragoons  to  aid  the  tories. 
They  surrounded  the  patriots,  routed  them  with  slaughter,  and 
Andrew  and  his  brother  were  taken  prisoners.  A  British  officer 
ordered  him  to  brush  his  mud-spattered  boots.  ''  I  am  a  prisoner 
of  war,  not  your  servant,"  was  the  reply  of  the  dauntless  boy. 

The  brute  drew  his  sword,  and  aimed  a  desperate  blow  at  the 
head  of  the  helpless  young  prisoner.  Andrew  raised  his  hand,  and 
thus  received  two  fearful  gashes,  —  one  upon  his  hand,  and  the 
other  upon  his  head.  The  officer  then  turned  to  his  brother 
Robert  with  the  same  demand.      He  also  refused,  and  received  a 


ANDREW  JACKSOX.  211 

blow  from  the  keen-edged  sabre,  which  quite  disabled  him,  and 
which  probably  soon  after  caused  his  death. 

The  two  wounded  boys,  one  fourteen  and  the  other  sixteen, 
with  twenty  other  prisoners,  were  hurried  off  to  Camden  in  South 
Carolina,  forty  miles  distant,  where  the  British  were  in  strength. 
Their  brutal  captors  allowed  them  no  food  or  water  by  the  way, 
and  would  not  even  permit  them  to  drink  from  the  streams  they 
forded.  At  Camden,  they  were  thrown  into  a  contracted  en- 
closure, without  beds,  medical  attendance,  or  any  means  of  dress- 
ing their  wounds.  Their  supply  of  food  was  scanty  and  bad. 
Days  and  nights  of  misery  passed  away.  The  small-pox,  in  its 
most  loathsome  form,  broke  out.  The  dying  and  the  dead  were 
all  together.  Mrs.  Jackson,  hearing  of  the  sufferings  of  her  beys, 
hastened  to  their  relief. 

There  was  resistless  energy  in  a  mother's  love.  She  succeeded 
in  obtaining  the  release  of  her  sons  by  exchange,  and  gazed 
horror-stricken  upon  their  wan  and  wasted  frames.  Having 
obtained  two  horses,  she  placed  Robert,  who  was  too  weak  to 
stand,  or  even  to  sit  in  his  saddle,  upon  one,  where  he  was  held 
in  his  seat  by  some  of  the  returning  prisoners.  Mrs.  Jackson 
rode  the  other.  Andrew,  bareheaded,  barefooted,  clothed  in  rags, 
sick  even  then  with  the  small-pox,  and  so  weak  that  he  could 
scarcely  drag  one  limb  after  the  other,  toiled  painfully  behind. 
Thus  they  made  their  journey  through  the  wilderness  for  forty 
miles,  —  from  Camden  back  to  Waxhaw. 

Before  this  sad  family  reached  their  home,  a  drenching  rain- 
storm set  in.  The  mother  at  length  got  her  sons,  both  sick  of 
small-pox,  home  and  to  bed.  In  two  days,  Robert  was  dead,  and 
Andrew  apparently  dying  in  the  wildest  ravings  of  delirium. 
The  strength  of  his  constitution  triumphed ;  and,  after  months  of 
languor,  he  regained  health  and  strength. 

As  he  was  getting  better,  his  mother  heard  the  cry  of  anguish 
from  the  prisoners  whom  the  British  held  in  Charleston,  among 
whom  were  the  sons  of  her  sisters.  She  hastened  to  their  relief, 
was  attacked  by  fever,  died,  and  was  buried  where  her  grave 
could  never  afterwards  be  found.  A  small  bundle  of  the  clothing 
which  she  wore  was  the  only  memorial  of  his  mother  which  was 
returned  to  her  orphan  boy.  Thus  Andrew  Jackson,  when  four- 
teen years  of  age,  was  left  alone  in  the  world,  without  father, 
mother,  sister,  or  brother,  and  without  one  dollar  which  he  could 
call  his  own. 


212  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Before  Andrew  had  fully  recovered  his  strength,  he  entered  a 
shop  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  saddler,  and  for  six  months  labored 
diligently  in  this  calling.  But  gradually,  as  health  returned,  he 
became  more  and  more  a  wild,  reckless,  lawless  boy.  He  drank, 
gambled,  fought  cocks,  and  was  regarded  as  about  the  worst 
character  that  could  anywhere  be  found.  In  December,  1782,  the 
British  having  evacuated  Charleston,  Andrew,  who  by  some  means 
had  come  into  possession  of  a  fine  horse,  mounted  him,  and  rode 
through  the  wilderness  to  Charleston.  Having  no  money,  he  soon 
ran  up  a  long  bill  at  the  tavern.  One  evening,  as  he  was  strolling  the 
streets,  he  entered  a  gambling-house,  and  was  challenged  to  stake 
his  horse  against  two  hundred  dollars.  He  won.  "With  this 
money  he  settled  his  bill,  mounted  his  horse,  and  rode  home 
through  the  solitary  pine-barrens,  reflecting  not  very  pleasantly 
upon  the  past,  and  forming  plans  for  the  future. 

He  now  turned  schoolmaster.  A  school  in  a  log  hut  ioi  those 
wilds  was  a  very  humble  institution.  Andrew  Jackson  could 
teach  the  alphabet,  perhaps  the  multiplication-table ;  and,  as  he  was 
a  very  bold  boy,  it  is  not  impossible  that  he  might  have  adventured 
to  teach  handwriting.  And  now  he  began  to  think  of  a  profes- 
sion, and  decided  to  study  law.  With  a  very  slender  purse,  and 
on  the  back  of  a  very  fine  horse,  he  set  out  for  Salisbury,  N.C., 
a  distance  of  about  seventy-five  miles,  where  he  entered  the 
law- office  of  Mr.  McCay.  Andrew  was  then  eighteen  years  of 
age.  Here  he  remained  for  two  years,  professedly  studying  law. 
He  is  still  vividly  remembered  in  the  traditions  of  Salisbury, 
which  traditions  say,  — 

'•'■  Andrew  Jackson  was  the  most  roaring,  rollicking,  game- 
cocking,  horse-racing,  card-playing,  mischievous  fellow  that  ever 
lived  in  Salisbury.  He  did  not  trouble  the  law-books  much. 
He  was  more  in  the  stable  than  in  the  ofiice.  He  was  the  head 
of  all  the  rowdies  hereabouts." 

Andrew  was  now,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  a  tall  young  man, 
standing  six  feet  and  an  inch  in  his  stockings.  He  was  very 
slender,  but  remarkably  dignified  and  graceful  in  his  manners,  an 
exquisite  horseman,  and  developing,  amidst  his  loathsome  profan- 
ity and  multiform  vices,  a  vein  of  rare  magnanimity.  His  temper 
was  fiery  in  the  extreme ;  but  it  was  said  of  him,  that  no  man 
knew  better  than  Andrew  Jackson  when  to  get  angry,  and  when 
not.     He  was  fond  of  all  rough  adventures,  wild  riding,  camping 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  -  213 

out;  loved  a  horse  passionately;  and,  though  sagacious  and  pru- 
dent, was  bold  in  facing  danger.  The  experience  through  which 
he  had  passed  in  the  Revolution  had  made  him  a  very  stanch 
republican. 

He  had  now  got  his  profession.  Again  mounting  his  horse,  he 
rode  to  Martinsville,  N.C.,  where  it  seems  that  he  spent  a 
year  as  a  clerk  in  a  country  store,  waiting  for  an  opportunity 
to  open  an  office  somewhere.  The  whole  of  that  region  which  we 
now  call  Tennessee  was  then  almost  an  unexplored  wilderness, 
called  Washington  County,  N.C.  It  was  ranged  by  bands  of  In- 
dians, who  had  been  so  outraged  by  vagabonds  among  the  whites, 
that  they  had  become  bitterly  hostile.  Ravaged  by  Indian  wars, 
it  became  a  burden  to  North  Carolina,  and  was  ceded  to  Congress. 
There  was  a  small  settlement  of  pioneers,  five  hundred  miles  west 
of  the  summit  of  the  Alleghanies,  near  the  present  site  of  Nash- 
ville, on  the  banks  of  the  Cu4iiberland.  Jonesborough  was  another 
small  settlement  in  East  Tennessee,  near  the  western  base  of  the 
Alleghanies.  The  intervening  space  was  a  wilderness,  which 
could  only  be  traversed  by  parties  well  guarded,  to  repel  attacks 
to  which  they  were  constantly  exposed. 

Andrew  Jackson  was  appointed  public  prosecutor  for  the  re- 
mote district  of  Nashville.  It  was  an  office  of  little  honor,  small 
emolument,  and  great  peril.  Few  men  could  be  found  to  accept 
it.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1788,  Jackson  joined  a  party  of 
emigrants,  who  rendezvoused  at  Morgantown,  the  last  frontier 
settlement  in  North  Carolina.  They  were  all  mounted  on  horse- 
back, with  their  baggage  on  pack-horses.  In  double  file,  the  long 
cavalcade  crossed  the  mountains  by  an  Indian  trail,  which  had 
widened  into  a  road.  Each  night,  they  camped  in  the  open  air. 
The  journey  of  a  few  days  brought  them,  without  adventure,  to 
Jonesborough,  where  there  was  a  small  settlement  of  about  sixty 
log  huts.  They  were  now  to  enter  the  wilderness,  which,  for  a 
distance  of  over  two  hundred  miles,  was  filled  with  hostile  bands 
of  fiavages.  There  they  waited  several  weeks  for  the  arrival  of 
other  parties  of  emigrants,  and  for  a  guard  from  Nashville  to 
escort  them.  Nearly  one  hundred  composed  the  cavalcade,  which 
included  many  women  and  children. 

One  night,  after  a  march  of  thirty-six  hours,  with  only  a  halt  of 
one  short  hour,  they  encamped  at  a  point  which  was  thought 
to  be  the  most  safe  in  the  midst  of  the  most  perilous  part  of  the 


214  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS 

journey.  The  women  and  children,  at  an  early  hour,  in  utter  ex- 
haustion, had  crept  into  their  little  tents.  The  men,  with  their 
blankets  wrapped  around  them,  were  sleeping  under  the  shelter 
of  logs,  with  their  feet  toward  the  fire.  The  sentinels,  with  their 
muskets,  were  silently  and  sleepily  standing  on  the  watch.  An- 
drew Jackson  had  retired  a  little  apart  from  the  rest,  and  sitting 
upon  the  ground,  with  his  back  against  a  tree,  was  smoking  a 
corn-cob  pipe.  Lost  in  silent  musing,  at  ten  o'clock,  just  as  he 
was  beginning  to  fall  asleep,  his  attention  was  arrested  by  the 
various  notes  of  the  owls  hooting  in  the  forest  around  him.  Just 
then,  he  was  startled  by  a  louder  hoot  than  usual,  very  near  the 
camp.     Instantly  suspicion  flashed  upon  his  mind. 

Grasping  his  rifle,  and  with  all  his  faculties  on  the  alert,  he 
crept  along  to  where  a  friend  was  sleeping,  and  startled  him  with 
the  announcement,  "  There  are  Indians  all  around  us !  I  have 
heard  them  in  every  direction !  They  mean  to  attack  us  before 
daybreak  !  " 

The  experienced  woodsmen  were  aroused.  They  listened,  and 
were  fully  confirmed  in  the  same  suspicion.  Silently  they  broke 
up  their  camp,  and,  with  the  utmost  caution,  resumed  their 
march.  An  hour  after  they  had  left,  a  party  of  hunters  came,  and 
occupied  the  spot.  Before  the  day  dawned,  the  Indians  sprang 
from  their  ambush  upon  them,  and  all  but  one  were  killed.  An- 
drew Jackson's  sagacity  had  saved  his  party. 

Late  in  October,  1788,  this  long  train  of  emigrants  reached 
Nashville.  They  took  with  them  the  exciting  news  that  the  new 
Constitution  had  been  accepted  by  a  majority  of  the  States,  and 
that  George  Washington  would  undoubtedly  be  elected  the  first 
president.  It  was  estimated  that  then,  in  this  outpost  of  civiliza- 
tion, there  were  scattered,  in  log  huts  clustered  along  the  banks 
of  the  Cumberland,  about  five  thousand  souls.  The  Indians  were 
so  active  in  their  hostilities,  that  it  was  not  safe  for  any  one  to  live 
far  from  the  stockade.  Every  man  took  his  rifle  with  him  to  the 
field.  Children  could  not  go  out  to  gather  berries,  unless  accom- 
panied by  a  guard. 

Nashville  had  its  aristocracy.  Mrs.  Donelson  belonged  to  one 
of  the  first  families.  She  was  the  widow  of  Col.  John  Donelson, 
and  lived  in  a  cabin  of  hewn  logs,  the  most  commodious  dwelling 
in  the  place.  She  had  a  beautiful,  mirth-loving  daughter,  who 
had  married  a  very  uncongenial  Kentuckian,  Lewis  Robards,  of 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  215 

whom  but  little  that  is  good  can  be  said.  She  and  her  husband 
lived  with  her  widowed  mother,  and  Andrew  Jackson  was  re- 
ceived into  the  family  as  a  boarder.  It  was  an  attractive  home 
for  him.  Of  the  gay  and  lively  Mrs.  Robards  it  is  said,  that  she 
was  then  the  best  story-teller,  the  best  dancer,  the  spright- 
liest  companion,  the  most  dashing  horsewoman,  in  the  Western 
country. 

And  now  Andrew  Jackson  commenced  vigorously  the  practice 
of  law.  It  was  an  important  part  of  his  business  to  collect  debts. 
It  required  nerve.  Many  desperate  men  carried  pistols  and 
knives.  There  were  some  disputed  claims  to  adjust.  A  court- 
house in  that  country,  at  that  time,  consisted  of  a  hut  of  unhewn 
logs,  without  floor,  door,  or  window.  Long  journeys  through  the 
wilderness  were  necessary  to  reach  the  distant  cabins  where 
the  courts  were  held.  During  the  first  seven  years  of  his  resi- 
dence in  those  wilds,  he  traversed  the  almost  pathless  forest 
between  Nashville  and  Jonesborough,  a  distance  of  two  hundred 
miles,  twenty-two  times.  Hostile  Indians  were  constantly  on  the 
watch,  and  a  man  was  liable  at  any  moment  to  be  shot  down  in 
his  own  field.  Andrew  Jackson  was  just  the  man  for  this  service, — 
a  wild,  rough,  daring  backwoodsman.  He  sometimes  camped  in 
the  woods  for  twenty  successive  nights,  not  daring  to  shoot  a 
deer,  or  to  kindle  a  fire,  lest  he  should  attract  the  attention  of 
some  roving  band  of  savages. 

One  night,  after  dark,  he  came  to  a  creek,  swollen  by  the  rains, 
to  a  roaring  torrent.  It  was  pitch-dark,  and  the  rain  was  falling 
in  floods.  He  could  not  ford  the  stream ;  he  dared  not  light  a 
fire  ;  it  was  not  safe  to  let  his  horse  move  about  to  browse.  He 
took  ofi"  the  saddle,  placed  it  at  the  foot  of  a  tree,  and  sat  upon  it ; 
wrapped  his  blanket  over  his  shoulders ;  held  his  bridle  in  one 
hand,  and  his  rifle  in  the  other ;  and  thus,  drenched  with  rain,  and 
listening  to  the  wail  of  the  storm  and  the  rush  of  the  torrent, 
waited  the  dawn.  He  then  mounted  his  horse,  swam  the  creek, 
and  proceeded  on  his  journey. 

*'  You  see  how  near,"  Andrew  Jackson  once  said,  ''  I  can  graze 
danger!"  Daily  he  was  making  hair-breadth  escapes.  He  seemed 
to  bear  a  charmed  life.  Boldly,  alone  or  with  few  companions,  he 
traversed  the  forests,  encountering  all  perils,  and  triumphing 
over  all. 

Mrs.  Robards  and  her  husband  lived  unhappily  together.     He 


216  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

was  jealous  of  her,  but,  in  the  judgment  of  all  acquainted  with 
the  facts,  without  any  cause.  Before  Mr.  Jackson's  arrival,  he 
had  once,  from  his  jealous  disposition,  separated  from  her.  Andrew 
Jackson  was  an  exceedingly  polite,  gallant,  fascinating  man  with 
ladies.  Capt.  Robards  became  jealous  of  Jackson,  and  treated  Mrs. 
Robards  with  great  cruelty.  Jackson  decided,  in  consequence, 
to  leave  the  house,  but  determined  first  to  have  a  little  conversa- 
tion with  Mr.  Robards.  He  found  the  man  abusive  and  unrelent- 
ing; and  Mr.  Jackson,  offering  to  meet  him  in  a  duel  if  he  desired 
it,  retired  from  the  family,  and  took  board  in  another  place.  Soon 
after  this,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robards  separated.  The  affair  caused 
Andrew  Jackson  great  uneasiness ;  for  though  he  knew  that  the 
parties  had  separated  once  before,  and  though  conscious  of  inno- 
cence, he  found  himself  to  be  the  unfortunate  cause  of  the  present 
scandal.  It  was  rumored  that  Capt.  Robards,  who  had  gone  to 
Kentucky,  was  about  to  return.  A  friend  of  Andrew  Jackson, 
subsequently  Judge  Overton,  who  was  then  his  intimate  compan- 
ion, w^rites,  that,  perceiving  Mr.  Jackson  to  be  much  depressed,  he 
inquired  the  cause.     The  reply  was,  — 

"  I  am  the  most  unhappy  of  men,  in  having  innocently  and  ud 
intentionally  been  the  cause  of  the  loss  of  peace  and  happiness  of 
Mrs.  Robards,  whom  I  believe  to  be  a  fine  woman." 

To  escape  from  the  persecutions  of  her  husband,  she  decided 
to  go  to  Natchez  with  the  family  of  an  elderly  gentleman.  Col. 
Stark.  As  there  was  great  danger  from  the  Indians,  Col.  Stark 
entreated  Mr.  Jackson  to  accompany  them  as  a  guard.  He  did  so, 
and  returned  to  Nashville.     This  was  in  the  spring  of  1791. 

Capt.  Robards  applied  to  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  for  a  bill 
of  divorce.  It  was  granted  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  pro- 
vided that  the  Supreme  Court  should  adjudge  that  there  loas  cause 
for  such  divorce.  Robards  laid  aside  this  act,  and  did  nothing 
about  it  for  two  years.  Virginia  was  far  away.  The  transmission 
of  intelligence  was  very  slow.  It  was  announced  in  Nashville 
that  Robards  had  obtained  a  divorce.  This  was  universally  be- 
lieved. No  one  doubted  it.  Mrs.  Robards  believed  it :  Andrew 
Jackson  believed  it.  Influenced  by  this  belief,  Andrew  Jackson 
and  Rachel  Robards  were  married  in  the  fall  of  1791.  No  one 
acquainted  thoroughly  with  the  parties  and  the  facts  doubted  of 
the  purity  of  the  connection. 

Two  years  after  this,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jackson  learned,  to  their 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  217 

great  surprise,  that  Robards  had  just  obtained  a  divorce  in  one 
of  the  courts  of  Kentucky,  and  that  the  act  of  the  Virginia  Legis- 
lature was  not  final,  but  conditional.  Thus  Mr.  Jackson  had,  in 
reality,  been  married  for  two  years  to  another  man's  wife,  though 
neither  he  nor  Mrs.  Jackson  had  been  guilty  of  the  slightest 
intentional  wrong.  To  remedy  the  irregularity  as  far  as  possible, 
a  new  license  was  obtained,  and  the  marriage  ceremony  was  again 
performed. 

It 'proved  to  be  a  marriage  of  rare  felicity.  Probably  there 
never  was  a  more  affectionate  union.  However  rough  Mr.  Jack- 
son might  have  been  abroad,  he  was  always  gentle  and  tender  at 
home ;  and,  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  their  lives,  he  treated 
Mrs.  Jackson  with  the  most  chivalric  attentions.  He  was  always 
very  sensitive  upon  the  question  of  his  marriage.  No  one  could 
breathe  a  word  which  reflected  a  suspicion  upon  the  purity  of 
this  affair  but  at  the  risk  of  pistol-shot  instantly  through  his  brain. 

The  country  was  rapidly  prospering.  The  Indians  were  quelled, 
and  thousands  of  emigrants  were  pouring  into  the  inviting  ter- 
ritory. Mr.  Jackson,  purchasing  large  tracts  of  land,  and  selling 
lots  to  settlers,  was  becoming  rich.  The  following  anecdote,  which 
he  related  when  President,  sheds  light  upon  his  own  character 
and  upon  the  times.  A  friend  in  Washington  was  expecting  to  be 
assailed  in  the  streets  by  a  political  opponent:  — 

"  Now,"  said  the  general  to  him,  "  if  any  man  attacks  you,  I 
know  how  you'll  fight  him  with  that  big  black  stick  of  yours. 
You'll  aim  right  for  his  head.  Well,  sir,  ten  chances  to  one  he 
will  ward  it  off;  and,  if  you  do  hit  him,  you  won't  bring  him  down. 
No,  sir"  (taking  the  Itick  into  his  own  hands):  "you  hold  the 
stick  so,  and  punch  him  in  the  stomach,  and  you'll  drop  him.  I'll 
tell  you  how  I  found  that  out. 

''  When  I  was  a  young  man,  practising  law  in  Tennessee,  there 
was  a  big,  bullying  fellow  that  wanted  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  me, 
and  so  trod  on  my  toes.  Supposing  it  accidental,  I  said  nothing. 
Soon  after, he  did  it  again;  and  I  began  to  suspect  his  object.  In 
a  few  minutes  he  came  by  a  third  time,  pushing  against  me 
violently,  and  evidently  meaning  fight.  He  was  a  man  of  immense 
size, —  one  of  the  very  biggest  men  I  ever  saw.  As  quick  as  a  flash, 
I  snatched  a  small  rail  from  the  top  of  the  fence,  and  gave  him  the 
point  of  it  full  in  the  stomach.  Sir,  it  doubled  him  up.  He  fell 
at  my  feet,  and  I  stamped  on  him.     Soon  he  got  up  savage,  and 

28 


218  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

was  about  to  fly  at  me  like  a  tiger.  The  bystanders  made  as 
though  they  would  interfere.  Says  I,  '  Gentlemen,  stand  back : 
give  me  room,  that's  all  I  ask,  and  I'll  manage  him.'  With  that  I 
stood  ready,  with  the  rail  pointed.  He  gave  me  one  look,  and 
turned  away  a  whipped  man,  and  feeling  like  one.  So,  sir,  I  say 
to  you,  if  any  villain  assaults  you,  give  him  the  pint  in  his  belly." 

In  these  wild  regions,  and  among  these  rough  frontiersmen, 
such  pluck  gave  a  man  an  enviable  reputation.  Jackson  was 
always  ready  for  a  fight.  An  opposing  lawyer  ridiculed  some  posi- 
tion he  had  taken.  He  tore  a  blank  leaf  from  a  law-book,  wrote  a 
peremptory  challenge,  and  handed  it  to  his  opponent.  They  met 
that  evening  in  a  glen,  exchanged  shots,  which  did  not  hit,  shook 
hands,  and  became  friends  again. 

Jackson  loved  cock-fighting.  He  kept  chickens  for  that  purpose. 
When,  upon  one  occasion,  one  of  his  chickens,  after  being  struck 
down,  revived,  and  by  a  lucky  stroke  killed  his  antagonist,  Jack- 
scm,  turning  to  a  companion,  exclaimed,  delighted,  "  There  is  the 
greatest  emblem  of  bravery  on  earth  !   Bonaparte  is  not  braver  !" 

In  January,  1796,  the  Territory  of  Tennessee  then  containing 
nearly  eighty  thousand  inhabitants,  the  people  met  in  convention 
at  Knoxville  to  frame  a  constitution.  Five  were  sent  from  each 
of  the  eleven  counties.  Andrew  Jackson  was  one  of  the  delegates 
from  Davidson  County.  They  met  in  a  shabby  building  in  a  grove 
outside  of  the  city.  It  was  fitted  up  for  the  occasion  at  an  ex- 
pense of  twelve  dollars  and  sixty-two  cents.  The  members  were 
entitled  to  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  day.  They  voted  to  receive 
but  a  dollar  and  a  half,  that  the  other  dollar  might  go  to  the  pay- 
ment of  secretary,  printer,  door-keeper,  &c.  A  constitution  was 
formed,  which  was  regarded  as  very  democratic ;  and  in  June, 
1796,  Tennessee  became  the  sixteenth  State  in  the  Union. 

The  new  State  was  entitled  to  but  one  member  in  the  national 
House  of  Representatives.  Andrew  Jackson  was  chosen  that 
member.  Mounting  his  horse,  he  rode  to  Philadelphia,  where 
Congress  then  held  its  sessions,  —  a  distance  of  eight  hundred 
miles.  Albert  Gallatin  thus  describes  the  first  appearance  of  the 
Hon.  Andrew  Jackson  in  the  House  :  — 

"  A  tall,  lank,  uncouth-looking  personage,  with  locks  of  hair 
hanging  over  his  face,  and  a  cue  down  his  back,  tied  with  an  eel- 
skin,  his  dress  singular,  his  manners  and  deportment  those  of  a 
rough  backwoodsman." 


\ 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  219 


Jackson  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  Democratic  party. 
Jefferson  was  his  idol.  He  admired  Bonaparte,  loved  France,  and 
hated  England.  As  Mr.  Jackson  took  his  seat,  Gen.  Washington, 
whose  second  term  of  service  was  then  expiring,  delivered  his  last 
speech  to  Congress.  A  committee  drew  up  a  complimentary  ad- 
dress in  reply.  Andrew  Jackson  did  not  approve  of  the  address, 
and  was  one  of  twelve  who  voted  against  it.  He  was  not  willing 
to  say  that  Gen.  Washington's  administration  had  been  "  wise, 
firm,  and  patriotic." 

Tennessee  had  fitted  out  an  expedition  against  the  Indians, 
contrary  to  the  policy  of  the  Government.  A  resolution  was  in- 
troduced, that  the  National  Government  should  pay  the  expenses. 
Jackson  advocated  it.  It  was  carried.  This  rendered  Mr.  Jack- 
son very  popular  in  Tennessee.  A  vacancy  chanced  soon  after 
to  occur  in  the  Senate,  and  Andrew  Jackson  was  chosen  United- 
States  senator  by  the  State  of  Tennessee.  John  Adams  was  then 
President ;  Thomas  Jefferson,  Vice-President.  , 

Many  years  after  this,  when  Mr.  Jefferson  had  retired  from  the 
presidential  chair,  and  Andrew  Jackson  was  candidate  for  the  pres- 
idency, Daniel  Webster  spent  some  days  at  the  romantic  home  of 
the  sage  of  Monticello.    He  represents  Mr.  Jefferson  as  saying,  — 

"  I  feel  much  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  seeing  Gen.  Jackson 
President.  He  is  one  of  the  most  unfit  men  I  know  of  for  such  a 
place.  He  has  very  little  respect  for  law  or  constitutions ;  and 
is,  in  fact,  an  able  military  chief.  His  passions  are  terrible. 
When  I  was  President  of  the  Senate,  he  was  senator;  and  he  could 
never  speak,  on  account  of  the  rashness  of  his  feelings.  I  have 
seen  him  attempt  it  repeatedly,  and  as  often  choke  with  rage. 
His  passions  are  no  doubt  cooler  now.  He  has  been  much  tried 
since  I  knew  him ;  but  he  is  a  dangerous  man." 

In  1798,  Mr.  Jackson  returned  to  Tennessee,  and  resigned  his 
seat  in  the  Senate.  Soon  after,  he  was  chosen  Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  that  State,  with  a  salary  of  six  hundred  dollars. 
This  office  he  held  for  six  years.  It  is  said  that  his  decisions, 
though  sometimes  ungrammatical,  were  generally  right. 

When  Senator  Jackson  was  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Tennessee,  John  Sevier  was  Governor  of  the  State.  There 
had  been  some  altercation  between  them ;  and  Jackson  had  chal- 
lenged Sevier  to  a  duel,  which  Sevier  had  declined.  They  met 
one  day  in  the  streets  of  Knoxville  in  a  very  unfriendly  mood. 


220  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

In  the  conversation  which  ensued,  Judge  Jackson  alluded  to  the 
services  which  \}e  had  rendered  the  State.  "Services! "  exclaimed 
the  governor :  "  I  know  of  none,  except  a  trip  to  Natchez  with  an- 
other man's  wife."  —  "  Great  God  I  "  cried  out  Judge  Jackson,  "  do 
you  mention  her  sacred  name  ?  "  He  immediately  drew  a  pistol,  and 
fired.  The  governor  returned  the  shot.  The  bullets  whistled  through 
the  crowded  streets  of  Knoxville.     Bystanders  separated  them. 

Soon  after.  Judge  Jackson,  when  travelling  with  a  friend,  Dr. 
Vandyke,  met  upon  the  road  Gov.  Sevier,  with  his  son.  The 
judge  immediately  drew  his  pistol,  and  ordered  the  governor  to 
defend  himself  The  governor  leaped  from  his  horse,  and  the 
frightened  animal  ran  away.  Young  Sevier  drew  upon  Jackson  ; 
Dr.  Vandyke  drew  upon  S&vier.  Some  chance  travellers  came 
up,  and  stopped  the  fray. 

The  quarrel  between  the  judge  and  the  governor  enlisted  par- 
tisans on  either  side  ;  and  several  scenes  of  clamor  and  violence 
occurred,  which  we  have  not  space  to  record.  Judge  Jackson 
did  not  enjoy  his  seat  upon  the  bench,  and  renounced  the  dignity 
in  the  summer  of  1804.  About  this  time,  he  was  chosen  major- 
general  of  militia,  and  lost  the  title  of  judge  in  that  of  general. 
When  he  retired  from  the  Senate  Chamber,  it  seems  that  he  had 
decided  to  try  his  fortune  through  trade.  He  purchased  a  stock 
of  goods  in  Philadelphia,  sent  them  to  Pittsburg  by  wagon,  down 
the  Ohio  to  Louisville  in  flat-boats,  thence  by  wagons  or  pack- 
horses  to  Nashville,  where  he  opened  a  store. 

He  lived  about  thirteen  miles  from  Nashville,  on  a  tract  of  land 
of  several  thousand  acres,  mostly  uncultivated.  He  used  a  small 
block-house  for  his  store,  from  a  narrow  window  of  which  he  sold 
goods  to  the  Indians.  As  he  had  an  assistant,  his  office  as  judge 
did  not  materially  interfere  with  this  business.  The  general 
tended  store,  sent  goods,  and,  it  is  said,  occasionally  negroes, 
down  the  Mississippi.  As  to  slavery,  born  in  the  midst  of  it,  the 
idea  never  seemed  to  enter  his  mind  that  it  could  be  wrong.  He 
became  eventually  an  extensive  slave-owner ;  but  he  was  one  of 
the  most  humane  and  gentle  of  masters.  At  a  horse-race,  where 
Gen.  Jackson  brought  forward  his  favorite  horse  Truxton,  and 
where  the  stakes  on  either  side  were  two  thousand  dollars,  the 
general  became  involved  in  a  quarrel  with  a  young  man  by  the 
name  of  Swann.  He  refused  to  i  accept  the  challenge  of  Swann, 
who  was  a  young  lawyer  just  from  Virginia,  upon  the  ground  that 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  221 

i 

he  was  not  a  gentleman  ;  but  beat  Lim  with  his  bludgeon.    It  was 
a  very  disgraceful  quarrel. 

This  led  to  another  difficulty,  with  Mr.  Charles  Dickenson,  who 
was  also  a  lawyer,  and  a  dealer  in  country  produce.  Jackson 
challenged  him  to  a  duel,  and  insisted  upon  an  immediate  fight. 
The  meeting  was  appointed  at  a  day's  ride  from  Nashville,  at 
seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Friday,  May  30,  1806.  The  par- 
ties were  to  stand  facing  each  other,  twenty-four  feet  apart,  Avith 
pistols  down.  At  the  word  "  Fire  ! "  they  were  to  discharge  their 
pistols  as  soon  as  they  pleased. 

Dickenson  had  a  young  and  beautiful  wife  and  an  infant  child, 
and  was  said  to  have  been  a  very  amiable  man.  As  he  stole  from 
the  side  of  his  wife  and  child  early  on  Thursday  morning,  stating 
that  he  had  business  which  called  him  to  Kentucky,  he  kissed  her, 
saying,  "  Good-by,  darling !  I  shall  be  sure  to  be  at  home  to- 
morrow night."  Meeting  a  gay  party  of  his  friends,  they  rode  off 
in  the  highest  spirits.  Dickenson  was  a  sure  shot.  He  could 
strike  a  dollar  with  his  bullet,  and  even  cut  a  string,  at  the  dis- 
tance of  twenty-four  feet.  Gen.  Jackson  and  his  party  followed. 
The  two  parties  spent  the  night  at  houses  about  two  miles  from 
each  other. 

The  next  morning,  they  met  in  a  grove.  Dickenson  got  the 
first  fire.  His  aim  was  unerring ;  but  the  ball  broke  a  rib,  and 
glanced,  leaving  a  bad  but  not  dangerous  wound.  Jackson  then 
took  deliberate  aim.  Dickenson,  appalled  by  the  certain  death 
which  awaited  him,  recoiled  a  step  or  two.  "  Back  to  the  mark, 
sir  !  "  shouted  Jackson's  second.  The  unhappy  man  took  his  stand. 
Again  Jackson  raised  his  pistol  with  calm,  determined  aim,  and 
pulled  the  trigger.  The  pistol  did  not  go  ofi".  He  examined  it, 
and  found  that  it  had  stopped  at  half-cock.  Re-adjusting  it,  he 
again,  unrelentingly,  took  cool  aim,  and  fired.  Dickenson  reeled, 
and  fell.  The  ball  had  passed  through  his  body,  just  above  the 
hips.  Jackson  and  his  party  retired  from  the  field,  leaving  the 
dying  man  in  the  hands  of  his  friends.  All  day  long  he  suffered 
agony  which  extorted  shrieks  from  him,  and  in  the  evening  died. 
The  next  da}'-,  his  frantic  wife,  hurrying  to  his  relief,  met  a  wagon 
conveying  back  to  Nashville  his  remains.  Dickenson  was  con- 
vivial in  his  tastes,  a  great  favorite  in  Nashville,  and  his  untimely 
death  excited  profound  sympathy.  For  a  time,  this  affair  greatly 
injured   Gen.  Jackson's  popularity.    The  verdict  then  was,  and 


222 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


continues  to  be,  that  Gen.  Jackson  was  outrageously  wrong.  If  he 
subsequently  felt  any  remorse,  he  never  revealed  it  to  any  one  but 
to  God. 


S?I^S\e?=  ^i^sJ^TZSSF— ,- 


:\L- 


THE   DUEL. 


Gen.  Jackson  at  this  time  resided  in  a  very  humble  house  on 
what  was  called  "  The  Hermitage  Farm."  It  consisted  of  one 
room  on  the  lower  floor,  and  two  above.  There  was  no  ceiling. 
A  trap-door  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  opened  into  a  hole  for 
storage.  There  was  another  smaller  cabin  near  by,  connected 
by  a  covered  passage.  Gen.  Jackson's  rustic  taste  was  amply 
satisfied  with  these  accommodations.  He  desired  nothing  better. 
Subsequently,  when  to  gratify  his  wife  he  built  the  comfortable 
house  called  "  The  Hermitage,"  these  two  buildings  were  con- 
verted into  negro  cabins.  The  general  was  proverbial  for  his 
hospitality,  and  the  low  as  well  as  the  high  were  equally  wel- 
come. Aaron  Burr  made  the  general  a  visit  of  five  days.  On 
his  return  from  New  Orleans,  he  made  another  visit  to  the  Hermit- 
age Farm  of  eight  days.     He  writes,  — 

"  For   a  week,  I  have  been   lounging  at   the  house    of  Gen. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  223 

Jackson,  once  a  lawyer,  afterwards  a  judge,  now  a  planter  ;  a  man 
of  intelligence,  and  one  of  those  frank,  ardent  souls  whom  I  love 
to  meet." 

Gradually  Gen.  Jackson  began  to  suspect  Burr  of  designs 
of  dismembering  the  Union,  and  establishing  a  Southern  empire, 
of  which  New  Orleans  was  to  be  the  capital,  and  Aaron  Burr  the 
sovereign.  He  communicated  his  suspicions  to  the  Government, 
and  offered  his  services.  Subsequently  he  formed  the  opinion 
that  Burr  was  innocent  of  any  traitorous  designs,  and  earnestly 
defended  him,  and  became  alienated  from  Jefferson  and  his  ad- 
ministration. Gen.  Jackson  now  withdrew  from  commercial 
pursuits,  which  he  had  not  found  very  profitable,  and  devoted 
himself  to  the  culture  of  his  plantation.  His  home  was  a  very 
happy  one.  Mrs.  Jackson  was  an  excellent  manager,  and  one 
of  the  most  cheerful  and  entertaining  of  companions.  She  had 
a  strong  mind,  much  intelligence,  but  very  little  culture.  They 
had  no  children,  but  adopted  one  of  the  twin  sons,  but  a  few 
days  old,  of  one  of  Mrs.  Jackson's  sisters.  This  boy  became  the 
pride,  the  joy,  the  hope,  of  the  general's  life.  Soon  after,  he  re- 
ceived another  little  nephew  into  his  family,  whom  he  nurtured 
and  educated.  It  is  said  (and  the  assertion  is  well  substantiated) 
that  this  wonderfully  irascible  man  was  never  impatient  even 
with  wife,  children,  or  servants. 

One  day,  when  travelling  alone,  he  met  two  burly  wagoners, 
who  ordered  him  to  get  out  of  his  carriage,  and  dance  for  them. 
Feigning  simplicity,  he  said  that  he  could  not  dance  without  his 
slippers,  which  were  in  his  trunk.  They  told  him  to  get  them. 
Opening  his  trunk,  he  took  out  his  pistols ;  and  then,  with  eyes 
glaring  like  fireballs,  and  with  such  oaths  as  few  men  ever  heard 
before,  approached  them,  saying,  — 

"  Now,  you  infernal  villains,  you  shall  dance  for  me  !  Dance, 
dance  ! "  There  was  death  in  his  eye  and  in  his  tone.  They 
danced  until  the  general  was  satisfied,  and  he  then  dismissed  them 
with  a  moral  lecture  which  they  probably  never  forgot. 

When  the  war  of  1812  with  Great  Britain  commenced,  Madison 
occupied  the  presidential  chair.  Aaron  Burr  sent  word  to  the 
President  that  there  was  an  unknown  man  in  the  West,  Andrew 
Jackson,  who  would  do  credit  to  a  commission  if  one  were  con- 
ferred upon  him.  Just  at  that  time,  Gen.  Jackson  ofi'ered  his 
services  and  those  of  twenty-five  hundred  volunteers.  His  ofier 
was  accepted,  and  the  troops  were  assembled  at  Nashville. 


224  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

As  the  British  were  hourly  expected  to  make  an  attack  upon  New 
Orleans,  where  Gen.  Wilkinson  was  in  command,  he  was  ordered 
to  descend  the  river  with  fifteen  hundred  troops  to  the  aid  of 
Wilkinson.  As  Gen.  Jackson  hated  the  commandant  at  New 
Orleans,  and  expected  a  ''  difficulty,"  he  took  with  him  his  duel- 
ling pistols  and  powder. 

The  expedition  reached  Natchez ;  and  after  a  delay  of  several 
weeks  there,  without  accomplishing  any  thing,  the  men  were 
ordered  back  to  their  homes.  But  the  energy  Gen.  Jackson  had 
displayed,  and  his  entire  devotion  to  the  comfort  of  his  soldiers, 
won  him  golden  opinions ;  and  he  became  the  most  popular  man 
in  the  State.  It  was  in  this  expedition  that  his  toughness  gave 
him  the  nickname  of  "  Old  Hickory." 

A  young  friend  of  Gen.  Jackson,  by  the  name  of  William 
Carroll,  challenged  Jesse  Benton,  a  younger  brother  of  Col. 
Thomas  H.  Benton,  to  a  duel.  Andrew  Jackson,  then  forty-six 
years  of  age,  somewhat  reluctantly  acted  as  second  to  Carroll. 
Both  parties  Avere  wounded,  young  Benton  quite  severely.  This 
roused  the  indignation  of  Col.  Thomas  H.  Benton,  who  had  con- 
ferred some  signal  favors  upon  Gen.  Jackson ;  and,  in  his  rage,  he 
made  such  remarks  as  passionate  men  were  accustomed  to 
make  in  those  days  and  in  that  region.  The  general,  hearing 
of  these  remarks,  swore  "  by  the  Eternal "  that  he  would  horsewhip 
Benton.  Learning  that  Benton  was  in  Nashville,  he  rode  into 
the  city,  and  with  pistols  in  his  pocket,  a  small  sword  at  his  side, 
and  a  whip  in  his  hand,  went  to  the  City  Hotel,  accompanied  by 
a  friend.  Col.  Benton  was  at  the  front-door,  with  his  brother 
Jesse  near.  Jackson  advanced  upon  him  with  his  whip,  exclaim- 
ing, — 

"  Now,  you  d d  rascal,  I  am  going  to  punish  you  !     Defend 

yourself !  " 

Benton  clapped  his  hand  into  his  breast-pocket  as  if  feeling 
for  a  pistol.  Jackson  instantly  drew  a  pistol,  and  presented  it  at 
the  breast  of  his  antagonist.  Benton  stepped  back  through  the 
hall  towards  the  door  at  the  other  end,  Jackson  following  closely. 
Jesse  Benton,  seeing  his  brother's  peril,  fired  at  Jackson.  The 
pistol  was  loaded  with  two  balls  and  a  slug.  The  slug  struck  his 
left  shoulder,  shattering  it  horribly.  The  ball  buried  itself  in  his 
arm,  where  it  remained  for  twenty  years.  Jackson  fell  heavily 
and  helplessly  to  the  floor,  bleeding  profusely.     His  friend,  Col. 


AlfDREW  JACKSON.  225 

Coffee,  rushed  upon  Col.  Benton,  fired  his  pistol,  and  missed.  He 
then  clubbed  his  pistol,  and  was  just  about  to  strike  the  colonel 
over  the  head,  when  Benton  tripped,  and  fell  back  over  some 
stairs  behind  him  which  he  had  not  observed,  and  rolled  to  the 
bottom.  Coffee  now  turned  his  attention  to  his  wounded  friend. 
But  another  actor  immediately  appeared.  Stokely  Hays,  a  nephew 
of  Gen.  Jackson,  and  a  man  of  gigantic  strength  and  stature, 
rushed  upon  Jesse  Benton.  "With  gleaming  knives,  they  had  a 
rough-and-tumble  fight.  Blood  flowed  freely.  Bystanders  inter- 
fered, and  separated  them. 

Faint  with  loss  of  blood,  Jackson  was  carried  to  the  Nashville 
Inn,  a  short  distance  ;  and  the  Bentons  remained  in  possession  of 
the  field.  Jackson's  wounds  were  very  severe.  While  he  was 
lingering,  haggard  and  wan,  upon  a  bed  of  suffering,  news  came 
that  the  Indians,  who  had  combined  under  Tecuniseh,  from  Florida 
to  the  Lakes,  to  exterminate  the  white  settlers,  were  committing  the 
most  awful  ravages.  Decisive  action  became  necessary.  Gen. 
Jackson,  with  his  fractured  bones  just  beginning  to  heal,  his  arm 
in  a  sling,  and  unable  to  mount  his  horse  without  assistance,  gave 
his  amazing  energies  to  the  raising  of  an  army  to  rendezvous  at 
Fayetteville,  on  the  borders  of  Alabama,  on  the  4th  of  October, 
1813. 

The  varied  incidents  of  the  war  which  ensued  cannot  here  be 
described.  On  the  bloody  field  of  Talluschatches,  where  the  whole 
of  a  band  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  Indian  warriors  met  with 
their  death,  an  Indian  babe  was  found  clinging  to  the  bosom 
of  its  dead  mother.  Jackson  urged  some  of  the  Indian  women, 
who  were  captives,  to  give  it  nourishment.  They  refused,  saying, 
"  All  his  relations  are  dead :  kill  him  too."  The  general  took  the 
child  to  his  own  tent,  nursed  it  with  sugar  and  water,  sent  it  to 
the  Hermitage,  and  brought  the  child  up  as  a  son,  giving  him  the 
name  of  Lincoyer.  He  grew  up  a  finely  formed  young  man,  but 
died  of  consumption  at  the  age  of  seventeen. 

A  narrative  of  the  heroism  of  the  troops,  their  sufferings  and 
their  achievements,  would  fill  pages.  On  one  occasion,  a  starving 
soldier  approached  the  general,  begging  for  food.  "  I  will  divide 
with  you  my  own  food,"  said  he,  and,  drawing  a  few  acorns  from 
his  pocket,  presented  them  to  the  man,  saying,  "  This  is  all  the  fare 
I  have."  Mutinies  arose  in  the  camp,  one  after  another,  which 
Gen.  Jackson,  almost  by  his    own    single  energies,  vanquished. 

29 


226  LIVES  OF   THE  PHESIDEXTS. 

The  discouragement  and  embarrassments  lie  encountered  vreni 
terrible.  In  the  severe  chastisement  of  the  Indians  at  Talladega; 
in  the  struggle  with  his  own  starving  troops  at  Fort  Strother  ;  in 
his  twelve-days'  excursion,  culminating  in  the  routing  of  the 
Indians  at  Enotochopco,  —  there  was  as  high  a  display  of  energy 
and  sagacity  as  has,  perhaps,  ever  been  recorded. 

The  Indians  were  numerous  and  desperate.  The  battles  were 
fierce  and  bloody.  The  settlers  in  that  remote  wilderness  were 
entirely  dependent  upon  their  crops  for  the  support  of  their  families. 
Absence  in  seedtime  or  harvest  exposed  wives  and  children  to 
starvation.  It  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  hire  men  even  for  six 
months'  military  service.  Two  hundred  young  men  volunteered 
for  a  three-months'  campaign.  The  contract  was  written  and  signed. 
Gen.  Roberts  had  enlisted  these  men.  -He  marched  them  to  within 
a  short  distance  of  Fort  Strother,  and  then  halted  them,  and  rode 
forward  to  get  a  promise  from  Gen.  Jackson  to  receive  them  for 
the  short  service  for  which  they  had  enlisted. 

The  wrath  of  the  general  was  roused.  He  would  not  hea-r  of 
their  serving  for  less  than  six  months.  The  men  heard  of  it,  and 
immediately  started  for  their  homes.  Awful  were  the  oaths  of  the 
enraged  general.  Every  available  man  was  sent  after  them  to  arrest 
them  as  deserters.  He  needed  the  men  so  much,  that,  while  he  swore 
that  he  would  shoot  them  as  deserters  if  they  did  not  return,  he 
assured  them  that  they  should  be  pardoned,  and  received  into 
service  on  the  terms  upon  which  they  had  enlisted,  if  they  would 
come  back. 

Thus  assured,  they  again  rendezvoused  at  Fayetteville.  Here 
a  man  who  was  anxious  to  retire  engaged  another  young  man, 
not  quite  eighteen  years  of  age,  John  Wood,  to  serve  as  his  sub- 
stitute. John  the  more  readily  assented  to  this  as  he  had  an 
elder  brother  in  the  company.  They  were  now  marched  to  Fort 
Strother. 

A  few  days  after  this,  on  a  cold,  rainy  morning  in  February, 
John  Wood  was  on  guard.  Wet,  chilled,  and  hungry,  he  obtained 
permission  to  go  to  his  tent  to  get  a  blanket.  His  comrades  had 
left  his  breakfast  for  him  ;  and,  while  he  was  hastily  eating  it,  an 
oflficer  came  along,  and  reproved  him  sharply  for  the  bones  and 
other  litter  which  were  strewn  about.  Jolm  went  on  eating.  The 
officer,  in  the  coarse,  insulting  language  of  the  camp,  ordered  him 
to  pick  up  the  bones.     John  replied,  probably  not  very  respect- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  227 

fully,  that  he  was  on  guard,  and  had  permission  to  leave  his  post 
but  for  a  few  moments,  to  which  he  must  immediately  return.  A 
loud  altercation  ensued.  The  officer  ordered  the  bystanders  to 
arrest  Wood.  He  seized  his  gun,  and  swore  that  he  would  shoot 
the  first  man  who  should  attempt  to  touch  him. 

Gen.  Jackson  heard  that  a  man  was  mutinying,  and  came  rush- 
ing from  his  tent  like  an  enraged  maniac.  Wood  was  put  in 
irons.  Gen.  Jackson  was  about  to  start  upon  a  very  important 
enterprise.  There  was  but  little  subordination  in  the  army.  He 
thought  it  time  to  make  an  example.  He  had  been  struggling 
against  mutiny  for  three  months,  and  his  patience  was  exhausted. 
John,  sitting  upon  a  log  in  the  forest,  a  mere  boy,  knowing  nothing 
of  military  life,  having  been  but  a  month  in  service,  was  con- 
demned to  die.  Gen.  Jackson  was  urged  to  pardon  him,  or,  at 
least,  to  mitigate  the  sentence,  in  consideration  of  his  youth,  and 
of  his  aged  parents,  of  whom  he  was  the  main-stay.  The  general 
replied,  that  he  was  sorry  for  his  parents ;  but  the  boy  was  a  muti- 
neer, and  must  die. 

The  whole  army  was  drawn  up  to  witness  the  execution.  A 
general  order  was  read,  in  which  it  was  asserted  that  Wood  had 
been  a  deserter  as  well  as  a  mutineer.  A  deserter  he  certainly 
was  not ;  for  he  did  not  join  the  company  until  after  the  fliglit,  and 
its  rendezvous  at  Fayetteville.  No  one  has  ever  read  this  story 
without  a  deep  feeling  of  sympathy  for  John  Wood. 

The  Creek  Indians  had  established  a  strong  fort  on  one  of  the 
bends  of  the  Tallapoosa  River,  near  the  centre  of  Alabama,  about 
fifty  miles  below  Fort  Strother.  With  an  army  of  two  thousand 
men,  Gen.  Jackson  traversed  the  pathless  wilderness  in  a  march 
of  eleven  days.  He  reached  their  fort,  called  Tohopeka,  or  Horse- 
shoe, on  the  27th  of  March,  1814.  The  bend  of  the  river  enclosed 
nearly  one  hundred  acres  of  tangled  forest  and  wild  ravine. 
Across  the  narrow  neck,  the  Indians  had  constructed  a  for- 
midable breastwork  of  logs  and  brush.  Here  nine  hundred  war- 
riors, with  an  ample  supply  of  arms  and  ammunition,  were 
assembled. 

The  fort  was  stormed.  The  fight  was  utterly  desperate.  Not 
an  Indian  would  accept  of  quarter.  When  bleeding  and  dying, 
they  would  fight  those  who  endeavored  to  spare  their  lives. 
From  ten  in  the  morning  until  dark,  the  battle  raged.  The  car^ 
nage  was  awful  and  revolting.     Some  threw  themselves  into  the 


228  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

river ;  but  the  unerring  bullet  struck  their  heads  as  they  swam. 
Nearly  every  one  of  the  nine  hundred  warriors  was  killed.  A 
few  probably,  in  the  night,  swam  the  river,  and  escaped.  This 
ended  the  war.  The  power  of  the  Creeks  was  broken  forever. 
This  bold  plunge  into  the  wilderness,  with  its  terrific  slaughter, 
so  appalled  the  savages,  that  the  haggard  remnants  of  the  bands 
came  to  the  camp,  begging  for  peace. 

Gen.  Jackson  returned  a  conqueror.  No  one  but  those  who 
know  from  experience  what  are  the  horrors  of  Indian  warfare  — 
the  midnight  yell  of  the  savage,  the  torch,  the  tomahawk,  the 
carnage,  the  torture  —  can  appreciate  the  gratitude  with  which 
this  deliverer  of  the  frontiers  was  received  as  he  journeyed 
homewards.  A  cavalcade  of  the  citizens  of  Nashville  flocked  to 
meet  him.  With  loudest  acclaim,  they  conducted  him  to  the 
court-house.  All  past  enmities  were  forgotten,  and  every  tongue 
spoke  his  praise. 

This  closing  of  the  Creek  War  enabled  us  to  concentrate  our 
militia  upon  the  British,  who  were  the  allies  of  the  Indians.  No 
man  of  less  resolute  will  than  Gen.  Jackson  could  have  conducted 
this  Indian  campaign  to  so  successful  an  issue.  Immediately,  on 
the  31st  of  May,  Jackson  was  appointed  major-general  in  the 
army  of  the  United  States.  This  gave  him  an  income  of  between 
six  and  seven  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  made  him,  for  those 
times,  a  rich  man.  Through  the  whole  Indian  campaign,  he  suf- 
fered terribly  from  the  wounds  and  debility  occasioned  by  his 
senseless  feud  with  Col.  Benton.  He  was  pale  and  haggard  and 
pain-worn,  often  enduring  the  extreme  of  agony.  Not  many  men, 
suffering  as  he  did,  would  have  been  out  of  the  sick-chamber. 
As  one  of  the  results  of  the  Creek  War,  the  Creeks  were  com- 
pelled to  cede  to  the  United-States  Government  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  territory  now  embraced  in  the  State  of  Alabama. 

Napoleon  had  now  fallen;  the  Bourbons  were  restored  ;  and  the 
English,  flushed  with  victory,  with  a  splendid  army,  and  a  still 
more  splendid  navy  of  more  than  a  thousand  vessels,  were  free  to 
concentrate  all  their  energies  against  this  infant  republic.  The 
Federalists  were  glad  that  Napoleon  was  overthrown  ;  the  Repub- 
licans generally  mourned.  Andrew  Jackson  was  a  Republican, 
and  a  great  admirer  of  Napoleon. 

Immediately  upon  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  the  British  cabinet  de- 
cided to  gather  up  its  strength  to  strike  America  a  crushing 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  229 

blow.  It  was  their  plan  to  take  New  Orleans,  lay  all  our  seaport 
towns  in  ashes,  annihilate  our  navy,  and,  by  holding  the  Atlantic, 
the  Mississippi,  and  the  Lakes,  to  imprison  us  in  our  forests.  The 
British  were  at  Pensacola  and  Appalachicola,  dispensing  arms  to 
the  Indians  in  that  region,  and  preparing  for  their  grand  naval 
and  land  expedition  to  NeAv  Orleans.  Florida  then  belonged  to 
Spain,  an  ally  of  England;  and  the  British  cabinet  doubted  not  its 
ability  to  wrest  from  us  Louisiana,  which  we  had  purchased  of 
France.  Most  of  the  hostile  Indians,  flying  from  the  tremendous 
blows  which  Gen.  Jackson  had  dealt  out  to  them,  had  also  taken 
refuge  in  Florida.  Jackson,  far  away  in  the  wilderness,  was  left 
to  act  almost  without  instructions.  He  decided  to  take  the 
responsibility,  and  assumed  the  independence  of  a  sovereign. 

Late  in  August,  wiih  an  army  of  two  thousand  men,  on  a  rush- 
ing march.  Gen.  Jackson  traversed  the  wilderness  from  which  he 
had  driven  out  the  Creeks,  and  reached  Mobile,  then  an  insignifi- 
cant hamlet  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  houses,  and  took  possession 
of  a  dilapidated  rampart,  called  Fort  Bowyer,  at  Mobile  Point.  A 
British  fleet  came  from  Pensacola,  landed  a  force  upon  the  beach, 
anchored  near  the  little  fort,  and  from  both  ship  and  shore  com- 
menced a  furious  assault.  The  battle  was  long  and  doubtful.  At 
length,  one  of  the  ships  was  blown  up,  and  the  rest  of  the  force 
retired  in  utter  discomfiture. 

The  whole  South  and  West  were  fully  aroused  to  meet  and 
repel  the  foe.  By  the  1st  of  November,  Gen.  Jackson  had  in 
Mobile  an  army  of  four  thousand  men.  His  wrath  against  the 
Spaniards  had  no  limits ;  and  he  resolved  to  march  upon  Pensa- 
cola, where  the  Spaniards  were  sheltering  our  foes,  and,  as  he 
expressed  it,  "  rout  out  the  English."  Regardless  of  the  rights 
of  Spain,  he  advanced  upon  Pensacola,  stormed  the  town,  took 
possession  of  every  fort,  and  drove  the  British  fleet  out  to  sea. 
But  where  had  the  fleet  gone?  This  question  Gen.  Jackson 
asked  with  great  anxiety.  Fearing  for  Mobile,  he  put  his  force 
in  rapid  motion  to  return.  On  the  3d  of  November,  he  left  Mo- 
bile, and  on  the  11th  got  back  again,  having  marched  nearly  two 
hundred  miles,  and  achieved  a  great  victory.  Many,  at  that 
time,  condemned  him  for  the  invasion  of  Florida ;  but  the  final 
verdict  has  been  clearly  in  his  favor. 

Garrisoning  Mobile,  he  moved  his  troops  to  New  Orleans,  a  dis- 
tance of  a  hundred  and  seventy  miles.     Gen.  Jackson  himself 


230  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

was  SO  feeble,  that  he  could  ride  but  seventeen  miles  a  day.  He 
reached  New  Orleans  the  1st  of  December.  New  Orleans  con- 
tained then  twenty  thousand  inhabitants.  There  was  plunder 
enough  of  cotton  and  sugar  stored  in  the  city  to  make  the  expe- 
dition of  the  British,  if  successful,  very  profitable.  The  following 
description  has  been  given  of  Gen.  Jackson,  as,  accompanied  by 
his  staff  alone,  he  entered  the  city  :  — 

"  The  chief  of  the  party,  which  was  composed  of  five  or  six 
persons,  was  a  tall,  gaunt  man,  of  very  erect  carriage,  with  a 
countenance  full  of  stern  decision  and  fearless  energy,  but  fur- 
rowed with  care  and  anxiety.  His  complexion  was  sallow  and 
unhealthy,  his  hair  was  iron  gray,  and  his  body  thin  and  ema- 
ciated, like  that  of  one  who  had  just  recovered  from  a  lingering 
and  painfid  sickness.  But  the  fierce  glare  of  his  bright  and 
hawk-like  eye  betrayed  a  soul  and  spirit  which  triumphed  over 
all  the  infirmities  of  the  body.  His  dress  was  simple,  and  nearly 
threadbare.  A  small  leather  cap  protected  his  head,  and  a  short 
Spanish  blue  cloak  his  body;  whilst  his  feet  and  legs -were  in- 
cased in  high  dragoon-boots,  long  ignorant  of  polish  or  blacking, 
which  reached  to  the  knees.  In  age,  he  appeared  to  have  passed 
about  forty-five  winters." 

In  some  mysterious  way.  Gen.  Jackson  had  acquired  the  man- 
ners of  the  most  polished  and  accomplished  gentleman.  There 
was  something  in  his  presence  which  charmed  every  one,  in  the 
saloon  as  well  as  in  the  camp.  Always  self-possessed,  there  were 
dignity  and  courtliness,  united  with  affability,  in  his  address, 
which  would  have  rendered  him  conspicuous  as  a  gentleman,  even 
in  the  court  of  Louis  XIV. 

Every  available  man  in  New  Orleans  was  immediately  brought 
into  service.  The  battle  of  New  Orleans,  which  soon  ensued,  was, 
in  reality,  a  very  arduous  campaign.  A  British  fleet  of  fifty  ships, 
many  of  them  of  the  first  class,  and  which  had  obtained  renown 
in  the  naval  conflicts  of  Trafalgar  and  the  Nile,  was  assembled  in 
a  spacious  bay  on  the  western  end  of  the  Island  of  Jamaica. 
This  fleet,  which  carried  a  thousand  cannon,  was  manned  by  nearly 
nine  thousand  soldiers  and  marines,  and  transported  a  land  force 
of  ten  thousand  veteran  soldiers,  fresh  from  the  wars  of  Europe, 
and  flushed  with  victory  over  Napoleon.  The  fleet  entered  Lake 
Borgne.  It  was  the  10th  of  December,  1811.  There  were  five 
small  cutters  in  the  lake,  which  were  soon   overpowered  by  the 


ANDR^  JACKSON.  231 

immense  force  of  the  foe.  The  fleet  now  ran  along  to  the  western 
extremity  of  the  lake,  and  landed  the  troops  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Bayou  Bienveuue.  The  shallow  water  would  not  allow  the  large 
ships  to  approach  near  the  land  ;  but  sixteen  hundred  troops  were 
speedily  put  on  shore  by  the  boats  but  eight  miles  from  New 
Orleans.  Unaware  how  feeble  the  force  Gen.  Jackson  had  at  his 
disposal,  they  did  not  deem  it  prudent  to  move  upon  the  city 
until  they  had  greatly  increased  their  numbers.  This  delay 
probably  saved  New  Orleans. 

The  British  troops  commenced  landing  on  the  16th.  The  pro- 
cess was  very  slow  and  tedious ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  22d  that 
they  were  prepared  to  move  forward.  Thus  far,  it  had  been 
uncertain  by  what  direction  they  would  advance  upon  the  city. 
As  soon  as  Gen.  Jackson  heard  of  their  line  of  approach,  he  ad- 
vanced to  meet  them.  He  had  placed  the  city  under  martial  law. 
Every  available  man,  horse,  mule,  ox,  had  been  called  into  requi- 
sition. Two  armed  schooners  were  stationed  in  the  river.  Fort 
St.  Philip  was  strengthened,  to  prevent  the  British  fleet,  which 
was  impelled  by  wind  alone,  from  ascending  the  river. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  23d,  Gen.  Jackson 
learned  that  the  foe,  marching  from  Lake  Borgne,  were  within 
nine  miles  of  the  city.  He  immediately  collected  his  motley  force 
of  young  farmers  and  mechanics,  about  two  thousand  in  number, 
and  marched  to  meet  them.  He  fell  upon  them  impetuously  in  a 
night  attack,  checked  their  progress,  and  drove  them  back 
towards  their  landing-place.  The  British,  surprised  by  the  fury 
of  the  assault,  waited  for  re-enforcements,  which  came  up  in  large 
numbers  during  the  night. 

In  the  mean  time,  Gen.  Jackson,  with  that  indomitable  energy, 
that  fiery  impetuosity,  in  which  he  surpassed  all  living  men,  fell 
back  with  his  men  to  a  point  about  four  miles  down  the  river  from 
New  Orleans,  and  commenced  cutting  a  ditch,  and  throwing  up  a 
l:ne  of  breastworks  from  the  river  across  the  plain,  which  was 
about  a  mile  in  width,  to  the  impassable  swamp.  Every  man  and 
boy  in  the  city  was  put  to  the  work.  The  general  was  every- 
where. His  zeal  inspired  all.  He  seemed  neither  to  eat  nor 
sleep.  It  is  said,  that,  for  five  days  and  four  nights,  he  was  with- 
out sleep.  Two  precious  days  the  British  allowed  him,  while  they 
were  laboriously  bringing  up  their  re-enforcements  of  men,  ammu- 
nition, provisions,  and  guns. 


232  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Gen.  Jackson  had  two  sloops  of  war  in  the  river,  which  annoyed 
the  foe  terribly.  It  is  but  a  narrow  strip  of  land  which  lines  the 
turbid  Mississippi.  It  was  only  along  this  strip  that  the  foe  could 
advance.  They  were  on  the  eastern  banks,  and  were  exposed 
unsheltered  to  the  fire  of  these  vessels.  The  levee,  rising  some 
fifteen  feet  from  the  plain,  alone  prevented  the  inundation  of  the 
ground  where  the  British  forces  were  collecting.  On  their  right, 
as  they  looked  up  the  stream,  the  swamp  shut  them  in  ;  while  the 
swift,  turbid,  deep  river  was  on  their  left.  On  the  25th,  Sir  E. 
Packenham  reached  the  British  camp,  bringing  with  him  a  power- 
ful battery.  He  planted  it  near  the  levee  in  the  night,  opened 
fire  in  the  morning,  blew  one  of  the  vessels  into  the  air,  and  drove 
the  other  out  of  range  of  his  guns.  He  was  the  nephew  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington.  But  Andrew  Jackson  was  in  spirit  the  duke 
himself,  expanded  and  intensified. 

Packenham,  on  the  28th,  pushed  his  veteran  battalions  forward 
on  a  reconnoissance,  and  to  sweep,  if  possible,  like  a  Mississippi 
flood,  over  Gen.  Jackson's  frail  and  unfinished  breastwork.  In 
the  construction  of  his  ditch  and  earthworks,  he  could  scoop  up 
the  earth  only  to  the  depth  of  three  feet  before  he  came  to  the 
water.  It  was  a  brilliant  morning,  the  28th  of  December.  Jackson, 
with  an  old  borrowed  telescope  in  his  hand,  was  on  the  watch. 
The  solid  columns  of  red-coats  came  on,  in  military  array  as  beau- 
tiful as  awe-inspiring.  The  artillery  led,  heralding  the  advance 
with  a  shower  of  Congreve-rockets,  round  shot,  and  shell. 
The  muskets  of  the  infantry  flashed  like  mirrors  in  the  liglit  of 
the  morning  sun.  The  Britons  were  in  high  glee.  It  was  absurd 
to  suppose  that  a  few  thousand  raw  militia  could  resist  the  vete- 
rans who  had  conquered  the  armies  of  Napoleon. 

Gen.  Jackson  had  not  quite  three  thousand  men  behind  his 
breastwork;  but  every  one  had  imbibed  the  spirit  of  his  chieftain. 
There  were  eight  thousand  veteran  soldiers  marching  upon  them. 
For  a  few  hours,  there  were  the  tumult,  the  horror,  the  carnage,  of 
a  battle ;  and  then  the  British  host  seemed  to  have  melted  away. 
Panting,  bleeding,  with  shattered  ranks,  leaving  their  dead  behind 
them,  again  they  retreated. 

Another  week  passed  away.  Both  parties  exerted  almost  super- 
human energy  in  preparing  for  the  renewal  of  the  strife.  Gen. 
Jackson  had  made  his  arrangements,  if  defeated,  to  retire  to  the 
city,  fire  it,  and,  amidst  its  flames,  to  fight  with  desperation;  slowly 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  233 

falling  back  to  some  strong  position  on  the  river-banks,  and,  by 
cutting  off  the  supplies  of  the  foe,  compel  him  to  depart. 

The  British  now  decided  to  advance  upon  the  American  lines 
by  regular  approaches.  For  three  days,  they  remained  in  their 
encampment  two  miles  below  our  breastworks,  but  in  open  view. 
They  brought  from  their  ships  heavy  cannon,  and  other  needful 
supplies.  Thus  passed  the  three  last  days  of  the  year.  The  banks 
of  the  river  were  lined  with  sentinels,  and  watch-boats  patroled 
the  majestic  stream.  The  British  had  brought  forward  twenty 
eighteen-pounders,  and  ten  twenty-fours. 

The  night  of  the  31st  of  December  was  very  dark.  In  its  gloom, 
one-half  of  the  British  army  advanced  within  three  hundred  yards 
of  our  front,  and,  under  cover  of  a  heavy  cannonade  on  their  right, 
commenced  throwing  up  a  chain  of  works.  The  next  morning 
was  Sunday,  the  first  day  of  the  new  year.  It  dawned  through  a 
fog  so  dense,  that  no  man  could  be  seen  at  a  distance  of  twenty 
yards.  Suddenly  at  ten  o'clock,  like  the  uprolling  of  a  curtain  at  a 
theatre,  the  fog  lifted ;  and  the  whole  plain,  glittering  with  all 
the  pageantry  of  war,  Avas  open  to  view.  Instantly  the  British 
batteries  commenced  their  fire  upon  the  American  lines. 

Within  ten  minutes,  one  hundred  balls  struck  the  house  wliich 
Gen.  Jackson  had  occupied  as  his  headquarters.  The  reply  from 
the  American  lines  was  prompt,  and  such  a  storm  of  war  was  opened 
as  never  before  had  been  witnessed  upon  this  continent.  Fifty 
pieces  of  cannon  were  discharged,  each  from  two  to  tliree  times  a 
minute ;  and,  as  there  was  not  a  breath  of  air,  the  plain  was  soon 
so  covered  with  smoke,  that  nothing  could  be  seen  but  an  im- 
penetrable cloud,  blazing  and  bellowing  with  volcaiuc  flash  and 
roar.  After  an  hour  and  a  half  of  such  work,  the  guns  became  so 
hot,  that  they  could  no  longer  be  loaded. 

As  the  smoke  rolled  away,  the  British  batteries  were  seen  total- 
ly destroyed:  the  soldiers  who  had  manned  them  were  running 
to  the  rear ;  and  the  British  army,  which  had  been  drawn  up  to 
advance  upon  our  works,  were  hiding  behind  the  ramparts  which 
the}^  had  thrown  up.  Again  the  British  were  defeated.  Annoyed 
by  the  terrible  fire  which  was  opened  upon  them  by  our  artillerists 
and  sharpshooters,  they  were  compelled  to  fall  back  to  their  former 
position.  This  was  the  third  battle,  not  including  the  gunboat 
fight,  of  the  campaign.  It  was  on  this  occasion  only  that  cotton- 
bales  were  used.     They  were  found  valueless,  and  were  thrown 

30 


234  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

aside,  as  the  cannon-balls  knocked  them  about,  or  set  them  on 
fire. 

What  the  enemy  would  next  attempt  was  now  the  great  ques- 
tion. Four  days  passed  away  with  no  decisive  movements  on 
either  side.  The  British  were,  however,  evidently  preparing  for 
another  advance.  No  words  can  describe  the  efforts  made  by  our 
army  to  prfepare  for  the  next  movement  of  the  foe,  whatever  it 
might  be.  On  Friday,  the  6th,  Gen.  Jackson  became  assured  that 
the  enemy  was  preparing  to  attack  him  on  both  sides  of  the  river. 

We  cannot  here  describe  the  preparations  made  for  the  attack 
and  for  the  repulse.  At  half  an  hour  before  dawn,  Sunday  morning, 
Jan.  8,  1815,  a  rocket  from  the  hostile  lines  gave  the  signal 
for  the  attack.  In  two  solid  columns,  the  British  advanced  upon 
our  ramparts,  which  were  bristling  with  infantry  and  artillery,  and 
behind  which  Gen.  Jackson  had  now  collected  an  army  of  about 
four  thousand  men,  all  inspired  with  the  zeal  of  their  commander. 
On  both  sides  of  the  river,  the  blood-red  billows  of  battle  rolled 
and  broke. 

Our  men  were  well  protected.  With  bare  bosoms,  the  British 
marched  upon  the  embankment,  from  which  there  was  poured 
forth  an  incessant  storm  of  bullets,  balls,  and  shells,  which  no  flesh 
and  blood  could  stand.  It  was  one  of  the  most  awful  scenes  of 
slaughter  which  was  ever  witnessed.  Every  bullet  accomplished 
its  mission,  spending  its  force  in  the  bodies  of  those  who  were  in- 
sanely driven  forward  to  inevitable  death.  Two  hundred  men 
were  cut  down  by  one  discharge  of  a  thirty-two-pounder,  loaded 
to  the  muzzle  with  musket-balls,  and  poured  into  the  head  of  a 
column  at  the  distance  of  but  a  few  yards.  Regiments  vanished, 
a  British  officer  said,  ''as  if  the  earth  had  opened,  and  swallowed 
them  up."  The  American  line  looked  like  a  row  of  fiery  furnaces. 
Gen.  Jackson  walked  slowly  along  his  ranks,  cheering  his  men,  and 
Baying,— 

"  Stand  to  your  guns  !  Don't  waste  your  ammunition  I  See  that 
every  shot  tells  !     Let  us  finish  the  business  to-day !  " 

Two  hours  passed,  and  the  work  was  done,  —  eifectually  done. 
As  the  smoke  lifted,  the  whole  proud  array  had  disappeared.  The 
ground  was  so  covered  with  the  dying  and  the  dead,  that,  for  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  in  front,  one  might  walk  upon  their  bodies  ;  and, 
far  away  in  the  distance,  the  retreating  lines  of  the  foe  were  to  be 
seen.     On  both  sides  of  the  river,  the  enemy  was  repulsed. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  235 

The  British  had  about  nine  thousand  in  the  engagement,  and 
we  but  about  four  thousand.  Their  loss  in  killed  and  wounded 
was  two  thousand  six  hundred,  while  ours  was  but  thirteen. 
Thus  ended  the  great  battle  of  New  Orleans.  For  ten  days  after 
the  battle,  the  British  remained  in  their  encampment,  continually- 
annoyed  by  our  artillerists  and  sharpshooters,  until  at  length, 
through  great  difficulties,  they  effected  their  escape  to  their  ships. 

In  those  days,  intelligence  travelled  so  slowly,  that  it  was  not 
until  th(-  4th  of  February  that  tidings  of  the  victory  reached 
Washington.  The  whole  country  blazed  with  illuminations,  and 
rang  with  rejoicings.  Ten  days  after  this,  news  of  the  Treaty  of 
Ghent  was  received,  which  treaty  had  been  signed  before  the 
bloody  battle  of  New  Orleans  took  place.  Gen.  Jackson  was  not 
a  man  of  tender  sympathies.  Inexorable  in  discipline,  soon  after 
this,  on  the  21st,  at  Mobile,  he  ordered  six  militia-men  to  be 
shot  for  mutiny.  It  is  a  sad  story.  They  were  honest,  well-mean- 
ing men,  who  probably  had  no  intention  of  doing  wrong.  Some  of 
them  were  true  Cln'istians,  and  they  supposed  that  their  term  of 
service  had  really  expired.  No  one  can  read  the  story  of  their 
death,  without  anguish  ;  and  it  required  all  the  glory  of  the  victory 
at  New  Orleans  to  obliterate  the  memory  of  the  execution  at 
Mobile. 

Rumors  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  reached  New  Orleans  in  March, 
and  were  published  by  one  of  the  New-Orleans  editors.  Gen.  Jack- 
sou,  deeming  such  an  announcement  injudicious,  ordered  the  editor 
to  retract.  He  refused,  and  was  arrested.  Judge  Hall,  to  vindi- 
cate the  supremacy  of  the  civil  authority,  issued  a  writ  oi'  habeas 
corpus.  The  general  arrested  the  judge,  and  sent  him  out  of  liis 
lines.  Soon  intelligence  of  peace  was  received.  The  judge  re- 
turned, and,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  fined  the  general  a  thousand 
dollars.  The  people  of  New  Orleans,  adoring  their  deliverer, 
were  indignant,  and  wished  to  pay  the  fine  for  him.  The  general 
refused  their  offer,  and  paid  it  himself 

He  now  returned  to  Nashville,  and  honors  were  poured  in  upon 
him  without  number.  He  still  retained  his  command  of  the  south- 
ern division  of  the  army.  The  Seminole  Indians  in  Florida  were 
committing  outrages  upon  our  frontiers.  Gen.  Jackson  gathered 
an  army  of  over  two  thousand  men,  and,  regardless  of  treaties, 
marched  into  Florida,  punished  the  Indians  severely,  attacked  a 
Spanish  post,  shot  by  court-martial   a  Scotchman,  and   hung  an 


236  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Englishman  accused  of  inciting  the  Indians  to  insurrection.  His 
energy,  and  disregard  of  treaties  and  the  forms  of  law,  were  de- 
nounced by  one  party,  and  commended  by  another.  He  was,  how- 
ever, sustained  by  Congress  and  the  President;  and,  after  tlie  pur- 
chase of  Florida  from  Spain,  Gen.  Jackson  was  appointed  governor 
of  the  newly  acquired  territory.  The  powers  with  which  he  was 
invested  were  so  great,  that  he  said,  upon  assuming  the  com- 
mand, — 

"  I  am  clothed  with  powers  that  no  one  under  a  republic  ought 
to  possess,  and  which,  I  trust,  will  never  again  be  given  to  any 
man." 

For  some  reason,  he  soon  became  tired  of  his  ofBce,  and,  resigning 
it,  again  retired  to  his  farm  and  his  extremely  humble  home  in  Ten- 
nessee. His  name  soon  began  to  be  brought  forward  as  that  of  a  can- 
didate for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States.  In  the  autumn  of 
1823,  he  was  elected,  by  the  Tennessee  Legislature,  United-States 
senator.  In  the  stormy  electoral  canvass  of  1824,  which  resulted  in 
the  choice  of  John  Quincy  Adams  by  the  House  of  Representatives, 
Gen.  Jackson  received  a  larger  number  of  electoral  votes  than 
either  of  his  competitors.  The  Democratic  party  now  with  great 
unanimity  fixed  upon  him  to  succeed  Mr.  Adams.  In  the  campaign 
of  1828,  he  was  triumphantly  elected  President  of  the  United  States. 
In  1829,  just  before  he  assumed  the  reins  of  government,  he  met 
with  the  most  terrible  afHiction  of  his  life  in  the  death  of  his  wife, 
whom  he  had  loved  with  devotion  which  has  perhaps  never  been 
surpassed.    From  the  shock  of  her  death  he  never  recovered. 

He  ever  afterwards  appeared  like  a  changed  man.  He  became 
subdued  in  spirit,  and,  except  when  his  terrible  temper  had  been 
greatly  aroused,  seldom  used  profane  language.  It  is  said  that 
every  night  afterwards,  until  his  own  death,  he  read  a  prayer  from 
his  wife's  prayer-book,  with  her  miniature  likeness  before  him.  With 
frankness  characteristic  of  his  nature,  he  expressed  his  deep  con- 
viction of  the  necessity  of  vital  godliness,  and  his  hope  and  inten- 
tion to  become  a  Christian  before  he  should  die. 

His  administration  was  one  of  the  most  memorable  in  the  annals' 
of  our  country;  applauded  by  one  party,  condemned  by  the  other. 
No  man  had  more  bitter  enemies  or  warmer  friends.  It  is,  how- 
ever, undeniable,  that  many  of  the  acts  of  his  administration,  which 
were  at  the  time  most  unsparingly  denounced,  are  now  generally 
commended.     Every  year  the  judgment  of  the  whole  community 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  237 

is  settling  into  the  conviction,  that,  with  all  his  glaring  faults  of 
character,  he  was  a  true  patriot,  honestly  seeking  the  good  of  his 
country.  With  the  masses  of  the  people,  Andrew  Jackson  was  the 
most  popular  president,  with  possibly  the  exceptions  of  Washington 
and  Lincoln,  who  ever  occupied  the  presidential  chair.  At  the 
expiration  of  his  two  terms  of  oiBce,  he  retired,  i\\  1837,  to  the 
Hermitage,  resigning  his  ofSce  at  Washington  to  his  warm  friend 
and  able  supporter,  Martin  Van  Buren. 

The  remains  of  his  much-loved  wife  were  reposing  in  the  hum- 
ble graveyard  near  his  house.  The  evening  of  his  stormy  life  had 
come.  Hours  of  reflection  were  forced  lipon  him.  The  sublimities 
of  the  world  beyond  the  grave  had  ever  overawed  his  soul.  There 
was  a  series  of  religious  meetings  of  several  days'  continuance. 
Gen.  Jackson  devoutly  attended  them  all.  The  last  sermon  was 
on  Saturday  afternoon,  upon  God's  interposition  among  the  affairs 
of  men.  Gen.  Jackson  went  home,  intensely  impressed  with  a 
sense  of  ingratitude  and  sin.  He  passed  the  night  walking  the 
floor  of  his  chamber  in  anguish  and  in  prayer.  In  the  morning,  he 
announced  to  his  family  his  full  conviction  that  he  had  repented 
of  his  sins,  and,  through  faith  in  Christ,  had  obtained  forgiveness. 
That  day  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  to  be  adminis- 
tered. With  his  customary  decision  of  character,  he  sent  for  the 
elders  of  the  church,  informed  them  of  the  new  life  upon  which  he 
believed  he  had  entered,  and  expressed  the  desire  that  very  day 
to  make  a  profession  of  his  faith  in  Christ,  and  to  partake  of  the 
emblems  of  his  body  broken  for  us,  and  his  blood  shed  for  our  sins. 
It  was  a  solemn  scene  which  was  that  morning  witnessed  in  that 
rural  church,  almost  buried  in  the  forests  of  Tennessee.  The  war- 
worn veteran,  with  bronzed  face  and  frosted  hair,  knelt  with  the 
humility  of  a  little  child  before  the  altar,  in  acceptance  of  pardon 
through  an  atoning  Saviour,  and  was  baptized  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  prayers 
of  his  Christian  mother  were  now  answered. 

His  subsequent  life  was  that  of  the  Christian  who  is  conscious 
that  his  sins  are  forgiven,  but  who  is  conscious,  also,  that  he  has 
yet  many  remaining  infirmities.  Family  prayer  was  immediately 
established  in  his  dwelling,  which  Gen.  Jackson  himself  conducted, 
however  numerous  might  be  his  guests.  Scott's  Family  Bible  he 
read  through  twice  before  he  died.  The  household  servants  were 
all  called  in  to  partake  in  the  devotions.  At  one  of  the  meetings 
of  the  church,  Gen.  Jackson  was  nominated  a  "ruling-  elder." 


238  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"  No,"  he  replied.  "  The  Bible  says, '  Be  not  hasty  in  the  laying- 
on  of  hands.'  I  am  too  young  in  the  church  for  such  an  office. 
My  countrymen  have  given  me  high  honors ;  but  I  should  esteem 
the  office  of  ruling  elder  in  the  Church  of  Christ  a  far  higher  honor 
than  any  I  have  received." 

His  sufferings  from  sickness  during  the  last  years  of  his  life 
were  dreadful ;  but  he  bore  them  with  the  greatest  fortitude,  never 
littering  a  complaining  word.  Still,  at  times,  the  gleams  of  his 
impetuous  soul  would  flash  forth.  "  What  would  you  have  done 
with  Calhoun  and  the  other  nullifiers,  if  they  had  kept  on?  "  asked 
Dr.  Edgar  one  day. 

The  old  general  half  rose  from  his  bed,  and  with  flashing  eye, 
and  great  vehemence  of  manner,  said,  "  I  would  have  hung  them, 
sir,  as  high  as  Haman.  They  should  have  been  a  terror  to  traitors 
for  all  time ;  and  posterity  would  have  pronounced  it  the  best  act 
of  my  life." 

On  Sunday,  May  24,  1845,  he  partook  of  the  communion. 
"  Death,"  said  he,  '^  has  no  terrors  for  me.  When  I  have  suffered 
sufficiently,  the  Lord  will  take  me  to  himself;  but  what  are  my 
sufferings  compared  with  those  of  the  blessed  Saviour  who  died  on 
the  accursed  tree  for  me?     Mine  are  nothing." 

Still  he  lingered  in  the  extreme  of  weakness  and  of  suffer- 
ing. On  Sunday  morning,  June  the  8th,  it  was  seen  that  his  last 
hour  had  come.  He  assembled  all  his  family  around  him,  and,  in 
the  most  affecting  manner,  took  leave  of  each  one.  "  He  then," 
writes  one  who  was  present,  "  delivered  one  of  the  most  impres- 
sive lectures  on  the  subject  of  religion  that  I  have  ever  heard. 
He  spoke  for  nearly  half  an  hour,  and  apparently  with  the  power 
of  inspiration."  The  servants  had  all  been  called  in.  In  conclu- 
sion, he  said,  ''  My  dear  children  and  friends  and  servants,  I  hope 
and  trust  to  meet  you  all  in  heaven,  both  white  and  black."  The 
last  words  he  repeated,  turning  his  eyes  tenderly  towards  the 
slaves  clustered  around.  For  some  time,  he  remained  apparently 
in  a  state  of  stupor.  At  length,  his  adopted  son  took  his  hand, 
and  said,  '■'  Father,  do  you  know  me  ?  " 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  "I  know  you.  Where  is  my  daughter,  and 
Marian  ?  God  will  take  care  of  you  for  me.  I  am  my  God's.  I 
belong  to  him.  I  go  but  a  short  time  before  you ;  and  I  want  to 
meet  you  all,  white  and  black,  in  heaven." 

The  slaves,  men,  women,  and  children,  who  crowded  the  piazza, 


ANDREW  JACKSON:  239 

looking  iu  at  the  windows,  sobbed  loudly.  Turning  to  tliem,  their 
dying  master  said,  — 

''  What  is  the  matter  with  my  dear  children  ?  Have  I  alarmed 
you  ?     Oh  !  do  not  cry,  and  we  will  all  meet  in  heaven." 

Soon  after  this,  he  suddenly,  and  without  a  struggle,  ceased  to 
breathe.  Two  days  after,  he  was  placed  in  a  grave  by  the  side 
of  his  wife.  He  had  often  said,  "  Heaven  will  be  no  heaven  to 
me  if  I  do  not  meet  my  wife  there."  For  miles  around,  the  people 
flocked  to  the  burial.  It  was  estimated  that  three  thousand  were 
assembled  upon  the  lawn  in  front  of  the  house.  A  favorite  psalm 
of  the  departed  was  sung, — 

"  Why  should  we  start,  and  fear  to  die  ? 
What  timorous  worms  we  mortals  are ! " 

A  sermon  was  preached  from  the  text,  "  These  are  they  which 
came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have  washed  their  robes,  and 
made  the;ii  Avhite  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb." 

The  brief  sketch  which  we  have  given  of  this  remarkable  man 
must  leave  the  impression  upon  every  mind  that  he  possessed 
great  virtues  and  great  defects.  He  was  the  first  president 
America  had  chosen  who  was  not  a  man  of  intelligence,  of  culture, 
and  of  experienced  statesmanship.  Though  intense  in  his  preju- 
dices, and  slow  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  reason,  and  though  many 
of  his  actions  were  fearfully  unjust,  few  will  now  deny  that  he 
was  honest  in  his  purposes,  and  sincerely  patriotic. 

Mr.  Parton,  in  his  admirable  Life  of  Jackson,  says  very  truly, 
"His  ignorance  of  law,  history,  politics,  science,  —  of  every  thing 
which  he  who  governs  a  country  ought  to  know,  —  was  extreme. 
Mr.  Trist  remembers  hearing  a  member  of  the  general's  family 
say  that  Gen.  Jackson  did  not  believe  the  world  was  round. 
His  ignorance  was  as  a  wall  round  about  him,  high  and  impene- 
trable. He  was  imprisoned  in  his  ignorance,  and  sometimes  raged 
around  his  little  dim  enclosure  like  a  tiger  in  his  den."  It  is  said, 
that,  when  he  was  elected  President  of  the  United  States,  he  had 
never  read  a  book  through  except "  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield."  The 
honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  was  conferred  upon  him  in  1833  by 
Harvard  University. 

Chief  Justice  Taney,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  paid  the  following 
beautiful  tribute  to  his  memory :  — 


240  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"  The  whole  civilized  world  already  knows  how  bountifully  he 
was  endowed  by  Providence  with  those  high  gifts  which  qualified 
him  to  lead,  both  as  a  soldier  and  as  a  statesman.  But  those  only 
who  were  around  him  in  hours  of  anxious  deliberation,  when  great 
and  mighty  interests  were  at  stake,  and  who  were  also  with  him 
in  the  retired  scenes  of  domestic  life,  in  the  midst  of  his  family 
and  friends,  can  fully  appreciate  his  innate  love  of  justice,  his 
hatred  of  oppression  in  every  shape  it  could  assume,  his  magna- 
nimity, his  entire  freedom  from  any  feeling  of  personal  hostility  to 
his  political  opponents,  and  his  constant  and  unvarying  kindness 
and  gentleness  to  his  friends." 


CHAPTER  VITI. 


MARTIN    VAN    BUREN. 


Birth  and  Childhood.  —  Studies  Law. —Talents  and  Industry.  —  Political  Principles. - 
Success  as  a  Lawyer  and  Politician.  —  Aids  in  the  Election  of  Jackson.  —  Secretary  of 
State.  — Mrs.  Eaton.  —  Resigns  his  Secretaryship. —  Minister  to  England.  — Rejected  by 
the  Senate.  —  Attains  the  Vice-Presidency. —  Patronage  of  Gen  Jackson.  —  Chosen 
President.  —  Retirement  and  Declining  Years. 

There  is  but  little  in  the  life  of  Martin  Van  Buren  of  romantic 
interest.     He  fought  no  battles,  engaged  in  no  wild  adventures. 


PESIDKNTK    I'l-    MAKTIN    ^  AX    HI'REN. 


Though  his  life  was  stormy  in  political  and  intellectual  conflicts, 
and  he  gained  many  signal  victories,  his  days  passed  uneventful 
in  those  incidents  which  give  zest  to  biography.     His  ancestors, 

31  241 


242  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

as  his  name  indicates,  were  of  Dutch  origin,  and  were  Lmong  the 
earliest  emigrants  from  Holland  to  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  His 
father  was  a  farmer,  residing  in  the  old  town  of  Kinderhook.  His 
mother,  also  of  Dutch  lineage,  was  a  woman  of  superior  intelli- 
gence and  of  exemplary  piety.  Martin,  their  eldest  son,  was  born 
on  the  5th  of  December,  1782. 

He  was  decidedly  a  precocious  boy,  developing  unusual  activity, 
vigor,  and  strength  of  mind.  At  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  had 
finished  his  academic  studies  in  his  native  village,  and  commenced 
the  study  of  the  law.  As  he  had  not  a  collegiate  education,  seven 
years  of  study  in  a  law-office  were  required  of  him  before  he  could 
be  admitted  to  the  bar.  Inspired  with  a  lofty  ambition,  and  con- 
scious of  his  powers,  he  pursued  his  studies  with  indefatigable  in- 
dustry. After  spending  six  years  in  an  office  in  his  native  village, 
he  went  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  prosecuted  his  studies  for 
the  seventh  year  under  the  tuition  of  William  P.  Van  Ness,  who 
subsequently  obtained  celebrity  as  the  second  of  Burr,  in  his  duel 
with  Hamilton. 

Martin  Van  Buren's  father  was  a  tavern-keeper,  as  well  as  a 
farmer ;  a  man  of  imperturbable  good  nature,  and  a  very  decided 
Democrat.  His  son  inherited  from  him  both  his  bonhomie  and 
his  political  principles.  It  is  said  of  the  son,  that,  all  through 
life,  he  was  ever  ready  to  greet  his  most  bitter  opponent  with  an 
open  hand  and  a  friendly  smile.  Burr  was  in  the  most  brilliant 
period  of  his  career  when  the  young  law-student  first  made  his 
acquaintance.  There  was  a  certain  congeniality  of  spirit  between 
them  which  promoted  friendship.  Martin,  then  a  young  man  of 
twenty,  was  very  handsome,  and  was  endowed  with  shining  abili- 
ties ;  and  one  can  apparently  see  in  his  after-life  the  influence 
which  the  seductive  and  commanding  mind  of  Burr  exerted  upon 
liis  youthful  nature.  In  one  respect,  indeed,  they  were  different : 
Mr.  Van  Buren  was  ever  a  man  of  irreproachable  morality. 

In  1803,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  then  twenty-one  years  of  age,  com- 
menced the  practice  of  law  in  his  native  village.  The  great  con- 
flict between  the  Federal  and  Republican  party  was  then  at  its 
height.  It  has  often  been  necessary  in  the  previous  sketches  to 
allude  to  the  principles  which  separated  the  two  parties.  Wash- 
ington and  John  Adams  considered  our  great  danger  to  consist  in 
not  giving  th6  Central  Government  sufficient  power :  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  on  the  contrary,  under  tlie  leadership  of  Jefi'erson, 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN.  243 

thought  that  our  danger  consisted  in  not  giving  the  State  govern- 
ments suflScient  power. 

In  August,  1786,  George  Washington  wrote  to  Jay,  "We  have 
probably  had  too  good  an  opinion  of  human  nature  in  forming  our 
confederacy.  I  do  not  conceive  that  we  can  long  exist  as  a  nation, 
without  having  centralized  somewhere  a  power  which  will  per- 
vade the  whole  Union  in  as  energetic  a  manner  as  the  authority 
of  the  State  governments  extends  over  the  several  States." 

Mr.  Van  Buren  was,  from  the  beginning,  a  politician.  He  had, 
perhaps,  imbibed  that  spirit  while  listening  to  the  many  discussions 
which  had  been  carried  on  in  his  father's  bar-room.  He  was  in 
cordial  sympathy  with  Jefferson,  and  earnestly  and  eloquently 
espoused  the  cause  of  State  Rights ;  though,  at  that  time,  the  Fede- 
ral party  held  the  supremacy  both  in  his  town  and  state.  Though 
ever  taking  an  active  part  in  politics,  he  devoted  himself  with 
great  assiduity  to  the  duties  of  a  village  lawyer,  and  rose  rapidly 
in  his  profession. 

His  success  and  increasing  reputation  led  him,  after  six  years 
of  practice,  to  remove  to  Hudson,  the  shire-town  of  his  county. 
Here  he  spent  seven  years,  constantly  gaining  strength  by 
contending  in  the  courts  with  some  of  the  ablest  men  who  have 
adorned  the  bar  of  his  State.  The  heroic  example  of  John  Quincy 
Adams,  in  retaining  in  office  every  faithful  man,  without  regard  to 
his  political  preferences,  had  been  thoroughly  repudiated  under 
the  administration  of  Gen.  Jackson.  The  unfortunate  principle 
was  now  fully  established,  that  '^  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils." 
Still  this  principle,  to  which  Mr..  Van  Buren  gave  his  adherence, 
was  not  devoid  of  inconveniences.  When,  subsequently,  he  at- 
tained power  which  placed  vast  patronage  in  his  hands,  he  was 
heard  to  say,  — 

"  I  prefer  an  office  which  has  no  patronage.  When  I  give  a 
man  an  office,  I  offend  his  disappointed  competitors  and  their 
friends.  Nor  am  I  certain  of  gaining  a  friend  in  the  man  I  appoint ; 
for,  in  all  probability,  he  expected  something  better." 

Just  before  leaving  Kinderhook  for  Hudson,  Mr.  Van  Buren 
married  a  lady  alike  distinguished  for  beauty  and  accomplish- 
ments. After  twelve  short  years,  she  sank  into  the  grave,  the 
victim  of  consumption,  leaving  her  husband  and  four  sons  to  weep 
over  her  loss.  For  twenty-five  years,  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  an 
earnest,  successful,  assiduous  lawyer.     The  record  of  those  years 


244  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

is  barren  in  items  of  public  interest.  The  political  affairs  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  with  which  he  was  constantly  intermingled, 
were  in  an  entangled  condition  which  no  mortal  would  now  under- 
take to  unravel.  In  1812,  when  thirty  years  of  age,  he  was  chosen 
to  the  State  Senate,  and  gave  his  strenuous  support  to  Mr.  Madi- 
son's administration.  In  1815,  he  was  appointed  Attorney-Gen- 
eral ;  and,  the  next  year,  moved  to  Albany,  the  capital  of  the  State, 
Here  he  cordially  supported  the  administration  of  Mr.  Madison  ; 
and  yet  he  voted  for  Clinton,  in  opposition  to  Madison,  at  his 
second  election.  Soon  after  this,  we  again  find  him  the  unrelent- 
ing opponent  of  Clinton. 

While  he  was  acknowledged  as  one  of  the  most  prominent 
leaders  of  the  Democratic  party,  he  had  the  moral  courage  to  avow 
that  true  democracy  did  not  require  that  "  universal  suffrage  " 
which  admits  the  vile,  the  degraded,  the  ignorant,  to  the  right  of 
governing  the  State.  In  true  consistency  with  his  democratic 
principles,  he  contended,  that,  while  the  path  leading  to  the  privi- 
lege of  voting  should  be  open  to  every  man  without  distinction, 
no  one  should  be  invested  with  that  sacred  prerogative,  unless  he 
were  in  some  degree  qualified  for  it  by  intelligence,  virtue,  and 
some  property-interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  State.  He  contended 
that  ''universal  suffrage  "  with  the  motley  mass  who  crowd  the 
garrets  and  cellars  of  New  York  would  render  the  elections  a 
curse  rather  than  a  blessing,  and  would  drive  all  respectable 
people  from  the  polls. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  cannot,  perhaps,  be  accused  of  inconsistency  in 
his  political  life ;  and  yet,  in  endeavoring  to  trace  out  his  career 
amidst  the  mazes  of  party  politics,  one  is  reminded  of  the  attempt 
to  follow  with  the  eye  the  mounted  aide  of  a  general  amidst ^he 
smoke,  tumult,  and  uproar  of  the  field  of  battle,  now  moving  in 
one  direction,  now  in  another,  and  yet  ever  in  accordance  with 
some  well-established  plan. 

In  1818,  there  was  a  great  split  in  the  Democratic  party  in  New 
York  ;  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  took  the  lead  in  organizing  that  portion 
of  the  i)arty  called  the  "  Albany  Regency,"  which  is  said  to 
have  swayed  the  destinies  of  the  State  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
In  1821,  he  Avas  elected  a  member  of  the  United-States  Senate ; 
and,  in  the  same  year,  he  took  a  seat  in  the  convention  to  revise 
the  constitution  of  his  native  State.  His  course  in  this  conven- 
tion secured  the  approval  of  men  of  all  parties.     No  one  could 


MARTIN    VAN  BUREN.  245 

doubt  the  singleness  of  his  endeavors  to  promote  the  interests  of 
all  classes  in  the  community.  In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
he  rose  at  once  to  a  conspicuous  position  as  an  active  and  useful 
legislator;  acting  always,  however,  in  sympathy  with  the  Republi- 
can, or  Democratic  party. 

In  1827,  John  Quincy  Adams  being  then  in  the  presidential 
chair,  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  re-elected  to  the  Senate.  IJe  had  been 
from  the  beginning  a  determined  opposer  of  the  Administration, 
adopting  the  "  State-Rights "  view  in  opposition  to  what  was 
deemed  the  Federal  proclivities  of  Mr.  Adams.  In  his  letter 
accepting  the  senatorship,  in  accordance  with  b's  character  as  a 
"  strict  constructionist,"  he  said,  — 

"  It  shall  be  my  constant  and  zealous  endeavor  to  protect  the 
remaining  rights  reserved  to  the  States  by  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, to  restore  those  of  which  they  have  been  divested  by  con- 
struction, and  to  promote  the  interest  and  honor  of  our  common 
country." 

Soon  after  this,  in  1828,  he  was  chosen  Governor  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  and  accordingly  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate. 
Probably  no  one  in  the  United  States  contributed  so  much  to- 
wards ejecting  John  Quincy  Adams  from  the  presidential  chair, 
and  placing  in  it  Andrew  Jackson,  as  did  Martin  Van  Buren. 
Whether  entitled  to  the  reputation  or  not,  he  certainly  was  re- 
garded throughout  the  United  States  as  one  of  the  most  skilful, 
sagacious,  and  cunning  of  manoeuvrers.  It  was  supposed  that  no 
one  knew  so  well  as  he  how  to  touch  the  secret  springs  of  action ; 
how  to  pull  all  the  wires  to  put  his  machinery  in  motion  ;  and  how 
to  organize  a  political  army  which  would,  secretly  and  stealthily, 
accomplish  the  most  gigantic  results.  By  these  powers,  it  is  said 
that  he  outwitted  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Ciay,  Mr.  Webster,  and  secured 
results  Avhich  few  thought  then  could  be  accomplished.  In  the 
spring  of  1827,  Mr.  Webster  had  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Adams's 
administration  would  be  sustained.  He  wrote  to  Jeremiah 
Mason,  — 

"  A  survey  of  the  whole  ground  leads  me  to  believe  con- 
fidently in  Mr.  Adams's  re-election.  I  set  down  New  England, 
New  Jersey,  the  greater  part  of  Maryland,  and  perhaps  all  Dela- 
ware, Ohio,  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Missouri,  and  Louisiana,  for  him. 
We  must  then  get  votes  enough  in  New  York  to  choose  him,  and, 
I  think,  cannot  fail  of  this." 


246  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

At  the  appointed  hour,  Mr.  Yan  Buren  opened  his  masked 
batteries.  Mines  were  sprung  all  over  the  United  States.  The 
battle  raged  with  fury  which  had  scarcely  ever  been  equalled. 
The  names  of  Adams  and  Jackson  rang  out  upon  every  breeze : 
each  was  represented  as  an  angel,  each  a  demon.  There  was  not 
an  aristocratic  crime  which  John  Quincy  Adams  had  not  com- 
mitted, no  democratic  atrocity  of  which  Andrew  Jackson  had 
not  been  guilty. 

At  length,  the  electoral  votes  were  cast.  Gen.  Jackson  re- 
ceived one  hundred  and  seventy-eight ;  Mr.  Adams,  eighty-three. 
Gen.  Jackson  immediately  offered  the  post  of  Secretary  of  State 
to  Mr.  Van  Buren ;  a  tribute,  as  he  said,  "  to  his  acknowledged 
talents  and  public  services,  and  in  accordance  with  the  wishes 
of  the  Republican  party  throughout  the  Union." 

Scarcely  had  Gen.  Jackson  taken  his  seat  in  the  presidential 
chair,  ere  there  arose  one  of  the  most  singular  difficulties  which 
ever  distracted  the  government  of  a  nation.  There  was  a  tavern- 
keeper  in  Washington  who  had  a  pretty,  vivacious,  free-and-easy 
daughter,  by  the  name  of  Peg  O'Neil.  Peg  may  have  been  a  very 
virtuous  girl ;  but  she  was  so  intimate  with  all  her  father's  guests, 
so  unreserved  in  conversation  and  manners,  and  withal  so  fasci- 
nating, that  her  reputation  was  not  unblemished.  Gen.  Jackson, 
when  senator  in  1823,  had  boarded  with  the  old  man,  and  had 
become  acquainted  with  his  pretty  daughter.  Miss  O'Neil,  how- 
ever, eventually  married  a  purser  in  the  United-States  navy,  by 
the  name  of  Timberlake.  He  was,  of  course,  much  of  the  time 
absent  from  home.  Major  John  H.  Eaton,  a  senator  from  Tennes- 
see, took  board  at  O'Neil's  tavern,  and  became  very  much  fasci- 
nated by  the  beautiful  and  witty  Mrs.  Timberlake.  Report  was 
busy  with  the  fair  fame  of  them  both ;  and  the  lady,  whether 
justly  or  unjustly,  acquired  a  very  unenviable  reputation.  Her 
husband  one  day,  in  a  fit  of  melancholy,  while  in  the  Mediterranean, 
committed  suicide;  and  Major  Eaton  immediately  after  married  her. 
This  event  took  place  soon  after  Gen.  Jackson's  election  to  the 
presidency. 

Major  Eaton  was  a  friend  of  Gen.  Jackson,  and  was  appointed 
by  him  Secretary  of  War.  The  ladies  of  the  other  members  of 
the  cabinet  were  in  great  trouble.  How  could  they  receive  Peg 
O'Neil  (now  Mrs.  Eaton),  with  her  sullied  reputation,  into  their 
Bocial  circles  ?     They  conferred  together,  and  resolved  that  they 


MARTIN   VAN  BUREN.  247 

would  not  do  it.  Gen.  Jackson,  mindful  of  his  own  past  troubles 
in  that  line,  and  assuming,  with  all  the  force  of  his  impetuous 
nature,  that  Mrs.  Eaton  was  a  traduced  and  virtuous  woman,  re- 
solved that  she  should  be  received  as  an  honored  member  of  the 
republican  court.  Several  of  the  members  of  the  cabinet  were 
married,  and  these  gentlemen  sympathized  with  their  wives.  The 
cabinet  was  divided.  The  conflict  roused  all  the  tremendous 
energies  of  Gen.  Jackson's  soul. 

Mr.  Van  Bureu  had  neither  wife  nor  daughter.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  pliant,  politic,  and  courteous  of  men.  It  was  one  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  his  life,  never  to  give  offence,  and  never 
to  appear  to  notice  an  injury.  He  was  ever  polite,  alike  to  saint 
and  sinner,  to  friend  and  enemy.  Not  unconscious  of  the  gratifi- 
cation it  would  afford  Gen.  Jackson,  he  called  upon  Mrs.  Eaton, 
made  parties  for  her,  and  treated  her  with  the  most  marked 
respect.  His  great  abilities  had  already  secured  the  confidence 
of  the  President,  which  this  policy  tended  only  to  increase.  Those 
familiar  with  the  state  of  things  at  Washington  soon  perceived 
that  Martin  Van  Buren  had  become  a  great  power,  and  that  he 
was  on  the  high  road  to  any  degree  of  elevation  he  might  desire. 

The  boundless  popularity  of  Gen.  Jackson  rendered  it  probable 
that  any  one  whom  he  might  suggest  as  his  successor  would  ob- 
tain the  election.  Not  one  year  had  elapsed  after  Gen.  Jackson 
had  assumed  the  reins  of  government,  ere  he  avowed  to  his  friends 
his  intention  to  do  every  thing  in  his  power  to  secure  the  presi- 
dency for  Mr.  Van  Buren.  About  this  time,  the  President  was 
taken  very  sick.  He  therefore  wrote  a  letter,  carefully  worded, 
to  be  published  in  case  he  should  die,  expressive  of  his  wishes. 
In  this  letter,  he  says,  — 

''  Permit  me  here  to  say  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  that  I  have  found 
him  every  thing  I  could  desire  him  to  be,  and  believe  him  not  only 
deserving  my  confidence,  but  the  confidence  of  the  nation.  Instead 
of  his  being  selfish  and  intriguing,  as  has  been  represented  by  his 
opponents,  I  have  ever  found  him  frank,  open,  candid,  and  manly. 
As  a  counsellor,  he  is  able  and  prudent,  republican  in  his  prin- 
ciples, and  one  of  the  most  pleasant  men  to  do  business  with  I 
ever  saw.  He  is  well  qualified  to  fill  the  highest  office  in  the  gift 
of  the  people,  who  in  him  will  find  a  true  friend,  and  safe  deposi- 
tary of  their  rights  and  liberty." 

For  two  years,  this  Mrs.  Eaton  conflict  raged  bitterly.     Foreign 


248  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

ministers  and  their  wives  were  drawn  into  the  troubled  arena 
3Ir.  Van  Buren,  however,  succeeded  in  so  governing  his  own 
actions,  as  to  be  ever  increasing  in  strength.  Daniel  Webster 
wrote,  early  in  the  year  1831, — 

"  Mr.  Tan  Buren  has  evidently,  at  this  moment,  quite  the  lead 
in  influence  and  importance.  He  controls  all  the  pages  on  the  back 
stairs,  and  flatters  what  seems  at  present  the  '  Aaron's  serpent ' 
among  the  President's  desires,  —  a  settled  purpose  of  making  out 
the  lady,  of  whom  so  much  has  been  said,  a  person  of  reputation. 
It  is  odd  enough,  but  too  evident  to  be  doubted,  that  the  conse- 
quence of  this  dispute  in  the  social  and  fashionable  world  is  pro- 
ducing great  political  effects,  and  may  very  probably  determine 
who  shall  be  successor  to  the  present  Chief  Magistrate." 

In  the  division  of  the  cabinet,  there  were,  for  Mrs.  Eaton,  Mr. 
Tan  Buren,  Major  Eaton,  Mr.  Barrv,  and  the  President ;  against 
her,  Mr.  Ingham,  Mr.  Branch,  Mr.  Berrien,  and  the  Vice-President, 
Calhoun.  This  latter  personage  now  hated  Van  Buren  with  per- 
fect hatred.  The  President  so  loved  him,  that  he  was  accustomed 
to  address  him  with  endearing  epithets  ;  speaking  of  him  to  others 
as  Van,  and  calling  him,  to  his  face,  Matty.  At  length,  the  Presi- 
dent resolved  to  introduce  harmony  into  his  cabinet  by  the 
unprecedented  measure  of  dismissing  them  all,  and  organizing 
the  cabinet  anew.  This  was  to  be  accomplished  by  having  those 
who  were  in  sympathy  with  him  resign,  and  receive  rich  offices 
elsewhere.  If  the  others  took  the  hint,  and  resigned  also,  well 
and  good ;  if  not,  they  were  to  be  dismissed.  Mr.  Van  Buren 
sent  in  his  resignation,  and  immediately  was  appointed  minister  to 
the  court  of  St.  James. 

All  this  redounded  to  the  reputation  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  :  and 
more  and  more  he  was  regarded  as  the  great  magician,  whose 
wand  possessed  almost  supernatural  power.  Upon  returning  to 
New  York,  he  met  with  a  triumphant  reception,  and,  early  in  the 
autumn  of  1831,  sailed  for  London.  Soon  after  his  arrival  there, 
Congress  again  met.  It  was  necessary  that  the  Senate  should 
ratify  his  appointment.  Messrs.  Calhoun,  Clay,  and  Webster 
appeared  prominently  as  his  opponents,  accusing  him  of  such  a 
spirit  of  narrow  partisanship  as  to  unfit  him  to  be  the  representa- 
tive of  our  whole  country.  He  was  accused  of  being  the  origi- 
nator of  the  system  of  removing  from  ofiice  every  incumbent,  how- 
ever able  and  faithful,  who  did  not  advocate  the  principles  of  the 


MARTIN    VAX  BUR  EN.  249 

party  in  power.  It  was  during  the  discussion  upon  this  question 
that  Gov.  Marcy  of  New  York,  in  defending  the  system  of  party 
removals,  uttered  the  memorable  words, — 

"  It  may  be,  sir,  that  the  politicians  of  New  York  are  not  so 
fastidious  as  some  gentlemen  are  as  to  disclosing  the  principles 
on  which  they  act.  They  boldly  preach  what  they  practise. 
When  they  are  contending  for  victory,  they  avow  their  intention 
of  enjoying  the  fruits  of  it.  If  they  are  defeated,  they  expect  to 
retire  from  office  ;  if  they  are  successful,  they  claim,  as  a  matter 
of  right,  the  advantages  of  success.  They  see  nothing  wrong  in 
the  rule,  that  to  the  victor  belong  the  spoils  of  the  enemy." 

In  this  hour,  when  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  so  bitterly  assailed.  Gov. 
Fors3'th  of  Georgia  paid  the  following  beautiful  tribute  to  his 
character : — 

"  Long  known  to  me  as  a  politician  and  a  man ;  acting  together 
in  the  hour  of  political  adversity,  when  we  had  lost  all  but  our 
honor ;  a  witness  of  his  movements  when  elevated  to  power,  and 
in  possession  of  the  confidence  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  and  of  the 
great  majority  of  the  people,  —  I  have  never  witnessed  aught  in 
Mr.Yan  Buren  which  requires  concealment,  palliation,  or  coloring; 
never  any  thing  to  lessen  his  character  as  a  patriot  or  a  man; 
nothing  which  he  might  not  desire  to  see  exposed  to  the  scrutiny 
of  every  member  of  this  body,  with  the  calm  confidence  of  unsul- 
lied integrity.  He  is  called  an  artful  man,  a  giant  of  artifice,  a 
wily  magician.  Those  ignorant  of  his  unrivalled  knowledge  of 
human  character,  his  power  of  penetrating  into  the  designs  and 
defeating  the  purposes  of  his  adversaries,  seeing  his  rapid  advance 
to  power  and  public  confidence,  impute  to  art  what  is  the  natural 
result  of  those  simple  causes.  Extraordinary  talent ;  untiring  in- 
dustry ;  incessant  vigilance ;  the  happiest  temper,  which  success 
cannot  corrupt,  nor  disappointment  sour,  —  these  are  the  sources  of 
his  unexampled  success,  the  magic  arts,  the  artifices  of  intrigue, 
to  which  only  he  has  resorted  in  his  eventful  life.  Those  who 
envy  his  success  may  learn  wisdom  from  his  example." 

Mr.  Yan  Buren's  rejection  by  the  Senate  must  have  been  to 
him  a  great  mortification.  When  the  news  reached  London,  it 
was  proclaimed  in  all  the  journals  of  the  city.  That  evening. 
Prince  Talleyrand,  the  French  minister,  gave  a  party.  Mr.  Yan 
Buren  was  present,  as  calm,  social,  and  smiling  as  if  floating  on 
the  full  tide  of  prosperity.     He  returned  to  America,  apparently 

32 


250  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

untroubled  ;  was  nominated  for  Vice-President,  in  the  place  of  Cal- 
houn, at  the  re-election  of  President  Jackson  ;  and  with  smiles  for 
all,  and  frowns  for  none,  went  to  take  his  place  at  the  head  of  that 
Senate  which  had  refused  to  confirm  his  nomination  as  ambas- 
sador. 

Mr.  Calhoun  supposed  that  Mr.  Van  Buren's  rejection  by  the 
Senate  would  prove  his  political  death,  and  is  reported  to  have 
said  triumphantly,  "  It  will  kill  him,  sir,  —  kill  him  dead.  He  will 
never  kick,  sir,  —  never  kick."  This  rejection  roused  all  the  zeal 
of  President  Jackson  in  behalf  of  his  repudiated  favorite  ;  and  this, 
probably  more  than  any  other  cause,  secured  his  elevation  to  the 
chair  of  the  Chief  Executive.  On  the  20th  of  May,  1836,  Mr.  Van 
Buren  received  the  Democratic  nomination  to  succeed  Gen.  Jack- 
son as  President  of  the  United  States.  He  was  elected  by  a 
handsome  majority,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  retiring  President. 
"  Leaving  New  York  out  of  the  canvass,"  says  Mr.  Parton,  "  the 
election  of  Mr,  Van  Buren  to  the  presidency  was  as  much 
the  act  of  Gen.  Jackson  as  though  the  Constitution  had  conferred 
upon  him  the  power  to  appoint  a  successor." 

It  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  days  of  spring,  when  the  long 
procession  which  accompanied  Mr.  Van  Buren  to  his  inaugura- 
tion passed  through  Pennsylvania  Avenue.  A  small  volunteer 
corps  escorted  the  President  elect  as  he  rode  in  a  phaeton  drawn 
by  four  grays.  Gen.  Jackson  accompanied  his  friend,  and  both 
rode  uncovered.  As  they  alighted  from  the  carriage  at  the  foot 
of  the  steps,  and  ascended  through  the  dense  and  moving  mass, 
the  tall  head  of  the  old  chieftain,  with  his  bristling  hair,  towered 
above  all  the  rest,  and  attracted  every  eye.  The  day  was  calm, 
and  the  air  elastic.  Twenty  thousand  people  were  there  assem- 
bled. As  Mr.  Van  Buren  delivered  his  inaugural  address,  his 
clear  voice,  in  its  distinct  articulation,  reached  every  ear. 

The  policy  of  the  Government  had  been  so  distinctly  marked 
out  by  Gen.  Jackson,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  so  distinctly 
avowed  his  attention  of  following  in  the  footsteps  of  his  illus- 
trious predecessor,  that  there  was  no  call  for  the  introduction  of 
any  new  acts,  or  for  any  change  in  the  administration. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  had  scarcely  taken  his  seat  in  the  presidential 
chair,  when  a  financial  panic,  almost  unprecedented  in  its  disas- 
trous results,  swept  the  land.  Many  attributed  this  to  the  war 
which  Gen.  Jackson  had  waged  upon  the  banks,  and  to  his  en- 


MARTIN   VAN  BUR  EN. 


251 


deavor  to  secure  an  almost  exclusive  specie  currency.  Nearly 
every  bank  in  the  country  was  compelled  to  suspend  specie  pay- 
ment, and  ruin  pervaded  all  our  great  cities.  Not  less  than  two 
hundred  an4  fifty  houses  failed  in  New  York  in  three  weeks. 
All  public  works  were  brought  to  a  stand,  and  there  was  a  gen- 
eral state  of  dismay.  At  the  same  time,  we  were  involved  in  an 
inglorious  war  with  the  Seminole  Indians  in  Florida,  which  re- 
flected no  honor  upon  our  arms.  The  slavery  question  was  rising 
in  portentous  magnitude,  introducing  agitation,  rage,  and  mob 
violence,  in  almost  every  city  and  village  of  the  land. 

There  was  an  insurrection  in  Canada  against  the  British  Gov- 
ernment, which  came  near  involving  us  in  a  war  with  that  nation. 
•  A   party  of   Canadian  insurgents   had    rendezvoused   on   Navy 
Island,  in  the  Niagara  River,  opposite  the  village    called  Fort 
Schlosser,  on  the  American  side.    A  small  steamboat,  called  "  The 


BURNING   OF   "the    CAKOLINE. 


Caroline,"  which  was  suspected'of  having  carried  ammunition  and 
supplies  to  the  insurgents,  was  moored  to  the  American  shore. 
The  British  commander,  regardless  of  territorial  rights,  sent  an 
armed  force  across  the  river,  attacked  the  steamer,  killed  several 


252  Lir£S  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

of  her  defenders,  applied  the  torch  to  the  boat,  and  sent  it  in 
flames  over  the  Falls  of  Niagara.  The  circumstance  called  forth 
a  long  and  angry  correspondence  with  the  British  Government ; 
and,  in  the  exasperations  of  the  hour,  we  barely  escaped  war. 

About  the  same  time,  there  also  arose  a  contest  between  Maine 
and  Great  Britain  respecting  boundary-lines  ;  and  there  was  the 
angry  mustering  of  hosts,  in  preparation  for  battle.  With  all 
these  troubles  on  his  hands,  the  four  years  which  Mr.  Van  Buren 
spent  in  the  White  House  must  have  been  years  of  anxiety  and 
toil.  Still,  he  was  anxious  for  a  re-election.  Gen.  Jackson  did 
every  thing  in  his  power  to  aid  him.  But  public  sentiment  was 
now  setting  so  strongly  against  the  Administration,  that  the  Whig 
candidate,  William  Henry  Harrison,  was  chosen  President,  and  Mr. 
Van  Buren  was  permitted  to  retire  to  the  seclusion  of  Kiuderhook. 

He  had  ever  been  a  prudent  man,  of  frug-al  habits,  and,  living 
within  his  income,  had  now  fortunately  a  competence  for  his 
declining  years.  His  unblemished  character,  his  commanding 
abilities,  his  unquestioned  patriotism,  and  the  distinguished  posi- 
tions which  he  had  occupied  in  the  government  of  the  country, 
secured  to  him,  not  only  the  homage  of  his  party,  but  the  respect 
of  the  whole  community.  It  was  on  the  4th  of  March,  1841,  that 
Van  Buren  retired  from  the  presidency.  From  his  fine  estate  at 
Lindenwald,  he  still  exerted  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  poli- 
tics of  the  country.  In  1844,  his  friends  made  strenuous  efibrts  to 
have  him  renominated  for  the  presidency.  The  proslavery  por- 
tion of  the  Democratic  party,  however,  carried  the  day ;  and  James 
K.  Polk  of  Tennessee  received  the  nomination.  Again,  in  1848, 
the  Free-soil  Democrats  brought  forward  his  name  for  the  presi- 
dency. Three  hundred  thousand  votes  were  cast  in  his  favor. 
Gen.  Taylor,  however,  the  Whig  candidate,  was  the  choice  of  the 
people.  From  this  time  until  his  death,  on  the  24th  of  July,  1862, 
at  the  age  of  eighty  years,  he  resided  at  Lindenwald,  a  gentleman 
of  leisure,  of  culture,  and  of  wealth  ;  enjoying,  in  a  healthy,  vigor- 
ous old  age,  probably  far  more  happiness  than  he  had  before  expe- 
rienced amidst  the  stormy  scenes  of  his  active  life.  He  was 
surrounded  by  friends,  and  his  own  cheerful  disposition  gilded 
every  hour.  Martin  Van  Buren  was  a  great  and  good  man  ;  and 
no  one  will  question  his  right  to  a  high  position  among  these  who 
have  been  the  successors  of  Washington  in  the  occupancy  of  the 
presidential  chair. 


-RAVED  EXPHESSLT  TOR  ABBOTTS  LIVES  OF  THE  FRESIDEHTS 


CHAPTER  IX. 


WILLIAM    HENRY    HARRISON. 

Birth  and  Ancestry.  —  Enters  United-States  Army.  —  Is  promoted.  —  Resigns  his  Commis- 
sion. —  Sent  to  Congress.  —  Governor  of  Indiana  Territory.  —  His  Scrupulous  Integrity. 

—  Indian  Troubles.  —  Battle  of  Tippecanoe. — War  with  Great  Britain.  —  Goveraor 
Harrison's  Perplexities  and  Labors.  —  The  British  repulsed.  —  Tecumseh  slain.  —  False 
Accusations.  —  Speech  in  Congress.  —  Reply  to  Randolph.  —  Letter  to  President  Bolivar. 

—  Temperance  Principles. —  Views  respecting  Slavery.  —  Duelling.  —  Elected  Presi- 
dent.—  Death. 

William  Henry  Harrison  was  born  in  Virginia,  on  the  banks  of 
the  James  River,  at  a  place  called  Berkeley,  the  9th  of  February, 


"-^~   .-^^ 


>4^" 


RESIDEMCF,   OF    WILLIAM    IIENKV    ITARRXSON. 


1773.     His  father,  Benjamin  Harrison,  was  in  comparatively  opu- 
lent circumstances,  and  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of 

253 


254  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

his  day.  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  George  Washington,  was 
early  elected  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  was  con- 
spicuous among  the  patriots  of  Virginia  in  resisting  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  British  crown.  In  the  celebrated  Congress  of  1775,. 
Benjamin  Harrison  and  John  Hancock  were  both  candidates  for 
the  oflSce  of  speaker.  Mr.  Harrison  at  once  yielded  to  the  illus- 
trious patriot  from  the  Bay  State ;  and,  seeing  that  Mr.  Hancock 
modestly  hesitated  to  take  the  chair,  Mr.  Harrison,  who  was  a  very 
portly  man,  and  of  gigantic  strength,  with  characteristic  good 
nature  and  playfulness  seized  Mr.  Hancock  in  his  athletic  arms, 
and  carried  him,  as  though  he  were  a  child,  to  the  seat  of  honor. 
Then  turning  around,  with  his  honest,  beaming  face,  he  said  to 
his  amused  associates, — 

"  Gentlemen,  we  will  show  Mother  Britain  how  little  we  care 
for  her  by  making  a  Massachusetts  man  our  President  whom  she 
has  excluded  from  pardon  by  a  public  proclamation." 

Like  most  men  of  large  stature,  Mr.  Harrison  was  full  of  fun,  and 
never  liked  to  lose  an  opportunity  for  a  joke.  He  was  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  and  he  it  was  who 
made  the  ludicrous  remark  about  "  hanging  "  to  Elbridge  Gerry, 
to  which  we  have  referred  in  the  life  of  Jefferson. 

Mr.  Harrison  was  subsequently  chosen  Governor  of  Virginia, 
and  was  twice  re-elected.  His  son  William  Henry,  of  course,  en- 
joyed in  childhood  all  the  advantages  which  wealth  and  intellect- 
ual and  cultivated  society  could  give.  Having  received  a  thorough 
common-school  education,  he  entered  Hampden  Sidney  College, 
where  he  graduated  with  honor  soon  after  the  death  of  his  father. 
He  then  repaired  to  Philadelphia  to  study  medicine  under  the 
instruction  of  Dr.  Rush  and  the  guardianship  of  Robert  Morris, 
both  of  whom  were,  with  his  father,  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence. 

George  Washington  was  then  President  of  the  United  States. 
The  Indians  were  committing  fearful  ravages  on  our  north-western 
frontier.  For  the  protection  of  the  settlers.  Gen.  St.  Clair  was 
stationed,  with  a  considerable  military  force,  at  Fort  Washington, 
on  the  far-away  waters  of  the  then  almost  unexplored  Ohio,  near 
the  spot  where  the  thronged  streets  of  Cincinnati  are  now  spread 
out.  Young  Harrison,  either  lured  by  the  love  of  adventure,  or 
moved  by  the  sufferings  of  families  exposed  to  the  qiost  horrible 
outrages,  abandoned  his  medical  studies,  and,  notwithstanding  the 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  255 

remonstrances  of  his  friends,  entered  the  army,  having  obtained  a 
commission  of  ensign  from  President  Washington.  He  was  then 
nineteen  years  of  age. 

The  hostile  Indians,  who  had  originally  been  roused  against  us 
during  the  war  of  the  Revolution  \fy  the  Government  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, were  spread  over  that  vast  wilderness  now  occupied  by  the 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  They  could  bring  many 
thousand  warriors  into  the  field,  who  had  been  supplied  with  am- 
munition and  arms  by  the  British  authorities  in  Canada.  Just 
before  young  Harrison  received  his  commission,  Gen.  St.  Clair, 
advancing  into  the  wilderness  with  fourteen  hundred  men,  was 
attacked  by  the  Indians  near  the  head  waters  of  the  Wabash,  and 
utterly  routed,  with  a  loss  of  five  hundred  and  thirty  killed, 
and  three  hundred  and  sixty  wounded.  This  awful  defeat  had 
spread  consternation  throughout  the  whole  frontier. 

Winter  was  setting  in.  Young  Harrison,  in  form  and  strength, 
was  frail ;  and  many  of  his  friends,  thinking  he  would  be  unable  to 
endure  the  hardships  of  a  winter  campaign,  urged  him  to  resign 
his  commission.  He,  however,  rejected  this  advice,  and,  crossing 
the  country  on  foot  to  Pittsburg,  descended  the  Ohio  to  Fort 
Washington.  The  first  duty  assigned  him  was  to  take  command 
of  a  train  of  pack-horses  bound  to  Fort  Hamilton,  on  the  Miami 
River,  about  forty  miles  from  Fort  Washington.  It  was  a  very 
arduous  and  perilous  service ;  but  it  was  so  well  performed  as  to 
command  the  especial  commendation  of  Gen.  St.  Clair.  A  veteran 
frontiersman  said  of  the  young  soldier, — 

"  I  would  as  soon  have  thought  of  putting  my  wife  into  the  ser- 
vice as  this  boy ;  but  I  have  been  out  with  him,  and  find  those 
smooth  cheeks  are  on  a  wise  head,  and  that  slight  frame  is  almost 
as  tough  as  my  own  weather-beaten  carcass." 

Intemperance  was  at  that  time,  as  it  ever  has  been,  the  bane  of 
the  army ;  but  young  Harrison,  inspired  by  some  good  impulse, 
adopted  the  principles  of  a  thorough  temperance  man,  to  which 
he  adhered  throughout  his  whole  life.  This  enabled  him  to  bear 
hardships  and  endure  privations  under  which  others  sank  to  an 
early  grave. 

Soon  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant,  and  joined  the 
army  which  Washington  had  placed  under  the  command  of  Gen. 
Wayne  to  prosecute  more  vigorously  the  war  with  the  Indians. 
The  new  general  who  succeeded  St.  Clair  had  acquired,  by  his 


256  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

reckless  daring,  the  title  of  "  Mad  Anthony."  On  the  28th  of  No- 
vember, 1792,  Gen.  Wayne,  with  an  army  of  about  three  thousand 
non-commissioned  officers  and  privates,  descended  the  Ohio  from 
Pittsburg,  a  distance  of  twenty-two  miles,  and  encamped  for  the 
winter.  In  the  spring,  he  conveyed  his  troops  in  boats  down  the 
river  to  Fort  Washington.  Here  Lieut.  Harrison  joined  the  "  Le- 
gion," as  Wayne's  army  was  called.  His  soldierly  qualities  imme- 
diately attracted  the  attention  and  secured  the  confidence  of  his 
commander-in-chief. 

Several  months  were  lost  in  waiting  for  supplies  before  the 
army  could  move.  In  October,  they  advanced  to  a  post  which  they 
called  Greenville,  about  eighty  miles  due  north.  Here  the  army 
encamped  for  the  winter.  A  strong  detachment  was  sent  some 
twenty  miles  farther  north,  to  occupy  the  ground  where  St.  Clair 
was  defeated,  to  bury  the  remains  of  the  dead,  and  to  establish 
there  a  strong  post,  which  they  named  Fort  Recovery.  In  this 
enterprise,  Lieut.  Harrison  is  mentioned  as  having  rendered  con- 
spicuous service. 

The  Indians,  in  the  early  spring,  attacked  the  fort  with  the 
greatest  determination.  They  were,  however,  repulsed  in  repeated 
assaults,  and  at  length  retired,  having  lost  a  large  portion  of 
their  band. 

Gen.  Wayne  then  advanced  with  his  whole  army  some  sixty 
miles  north  to  the  junction  of  the  Au  Glaize  and  Maumee  Rivers, 
where  he  constructed  a  strong  fort.  On  the  20th  of  August,  as  he 
was  continuing  his  march  down  the  Maumee,  he  encountered  the 
Indians  in  great  force,  Ijnng  in  ambush.  Their  numbers  were 
estimated  at  two  thousand.  A  bloody  battle  ensued,  in  which 
both  parties  fought  with  the  utmost  desperation.  The  savages 
Avere  driven  howling  into  the  woods,  their  villages  were  burned, 
and  their  cornfields  destroyed.  This  signal  discomfiture  broke 
their  spirit,  and  they  implored  peace.  Again  Lieut.  Harrison  sig- 
nalized himself,  and  obtained  from  his  commanding  officer  the 
following  commendation :  — 

"  Lieut.  Harrison  was  in  tlie  foremost  front  of  the  hottest  battle. 
His  person  was  exposed  from  the  commencement  to  the  close  of 
the  action.  Wherever  duty  called,  he  hastened,  regardless  of 
danger,  and,  by  his  efforts  and  example,  contributed  as  much  to 
secure  the  fortunes  of  the  day  as  any  other  officer  subordinate 
to  the  commander-in-chief,'' 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  257 

Lieut.  Harrison  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain,  and 
was  placed  in  command  at  Fort  Washington.  The  British  military 
posts  in  the  north-west  were  about  this  time  surrendered  to  the 
National  Government ;  and  Capt,  Harrison  was  employed  in  occu- 
pying them,  and  in  supplying  them  with  provisions  and  military 
stores.  While  thus  employed,  he  married  a  daughter  of  John 
Cleves  Symmes,  one  of  the  frontiersmen  who  had  established  a 
thriving  settlement  on  the  banks  of  the  Maumee. 

In  1797,  Capt.  Harrison,  then  twenty-four  years  of  age,  resigned 
his  commission  in  the  army,  and  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the 
North-western  Territory,  and  ex  officio  Lieutenant-Governor,  Gen. 
St.  Clair  being  then  Governor  of  the  territory.  At  that  time,  the 
law  in  reference  to  the  disposal  of  the  public  lands  was  such,  that 
no  one  could  purchase  in  tracts  less  than  four  thousand  acres.  This 
inured  to  the  benefit  of  the  rich  speculator ;  and  the  poor  settler 
could  only  purchase  at  second-hand,  and  at  a  greatly  advanced 
price.  Mr.  Harrison,  in  the  face  of  violent  opposition,  succeeded 
in  obtaining  so  much  of  a  modification  of  this  unjust  law,  that  the 
land  was  sold  in  alternate  tracts  of  six  hundred  and  forty  and 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres.  The  North-western  Territory 
was  then  entitled  to  one  delegate  in  Congress,  and  Capt.  Harrison 
was  chosen  to  fill  that  ofiSce. 

In  the  spring  of  1800,  the  ^lorth-western  Territory  was  divided 
by  Congress  into  two  portions.  The  eastern  portion,  comprising 
the  region  now  embraced  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  was  called  ''  The 
Territory  north-west  of  the  Ohio."  The  western  portion,  which  in- 
cluded what  is  now  called  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin,  was 
called  "The  Indiana  Territory."  William  Henry  Harrison,  then 
twenty-seven  years  of  age,  was  appointed  by  John  Adams  Governor 
of  the  Indiana  Territory,  and,  immediately  after,  also  Governor  of 
Upper  Louisiana.  He  was  thus  the  ruler  over  almost  as  extensive  a 
realm  as  any  sovereign  upon  the  globe.  He  was  Superintendent  of 
Indian  Affairs,  and  was  invested  with  powers  nearly  dictatorial  over 
the  now  rapidly-increasing  white  population.  The  ability  and 
fidelity  with  which  he  discharged  these  responsible  duties  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  he  was  four  times  appointed  to  this 
oflSce,  —  first  by  John  Adams,  twice  by  Thomas  Jefierson,  and 
afterwards  by  President  Madison. 

When  he  commenced  his  administration,  there  were  but  three 
white  settlements  in  that  almost  boundless  region,  now  crowded 

33 


258  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

with  cities,  and  resounding  with  all  the  tumult  of  wealth  and 
traffic.  One  of  these  settlements  was  on  the  Ohio,  nearly  opposite 
Louisville ;  one  at  Vincennes,  on  the  Wabash ;  and  the  third  a 
French  settlement. 

Gov.  Harrison  discharged  his  arduous  duties  with  such  manifest 
justice,  that  no  one  ventured  to  question  his  integrity.  During 
his  administration,  he  effected  thirteen  treaties  with  the  Indians, 
by  which  the  United  States  acquired  sixty  millions  of  acres  of 
land.  Gov.  Harrison  was  sole  commissioner,  and  every  treaty  he 
foraied  received  the  sanction  of  the  President  and  Senate  of  the 
United  States.  He  had  ample  opportunities  to  enrich  himself; 
for  he  could  confirm  grants  of  land  to  individuals,  his  sole  signa- 
ture giving  a  title  which  could  not  be  questioned  :  but  he  never 
held  a  single  acre  by  a  title  emanating  from  himself.  The  fron- 
tiers of  civilization  are  always  occupied  by  a  lawless  class  of 
vagabonds,  who  shrink  from  no  outrages :  these  men  abused  the 
Indians  in  every  way  which  passion  or  interest  could  dictate. 
In  a  communication  to  the  Government,  July,  1801,  Gov.  Harri- 
son says, — 

"  All  these  injuries  the  Indians  have  hitherto  borne  with  aston- 
ishing patience.  But,  though  they  discover  no  disposition  to 
make  war  upon  the  United  States,  I  am  confident  that  most  of 
the  tribes  would  eagerly  seize  any  favorable  opportunity  for  that 
purpose  ;  and,  should  the  United  States  be  at  war  with  any 
European  nations  who  are  known  to  the  Indians,  there  would 
probably  be  a  combination  of  more  than  nine-tenths  of  the  North- 
ern tribes  against  us,  unless  some  means  are  made  use  of  to  con- 
ciliate them." 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  now  President,  and  humanely  made  great 
exertions  to  protect  the  Indians,  and  to  induce  them  to  abandon 
their  wild  hunting-life,  and  to  devote  themselves  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  land.  In  1801,  Gov.  Harrison  obtained  a  cession  from 
the  Indians  of  all  the  land  between  the  Illinois  River  and  the 
Mississippi. 

A  territorial  legislature  was  soon  organized  for  the  rapidly- 
increasing  population,  over  which  the  governor  presided  with 
that  dignity,  courtesy,  and  unswerving  integrity,  which  secured 
to  him  universal  respect.  By  nature,  he  had  much  kindness  of 
heart ;  and  his  affability  of  manners,  and  his  tact  in  meeting  all 
varieties  of  human  character,  rendered  him  greatly  beloved.     His 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  259 

magnanimous  devotion  to  the  public  interest  was  such,  that  he 
several  times  appointed  decided  political  opponents  to  offices  of 
trust  which  he  deemed  them  eminently  fitted  to  fill.  He  was  so 
cautious  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  evil,  that  he  would  not  keep 
the  public  money  on  hand,  but  always  made  his  payments  by 
drafts  upon  Washington.  It  has  been  said  that  no  man  ever  dis- 
bursed so  large  an  amount  of  public  treasure  with  so  little  diffi- 
culty in  adjusting  his  accounts. 

For  twelve  years,  he  was  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Indiana. 
A  wealthy  foreigner,  by  the  name  of  M'Intosh,  loudly  accused 
the  governor  of  having  defrauded  the  Indians  in  the  treaty  of 
Fort  Wayne.  The  governor  demanded  investigation  in  a  court 
of  justice ;  and  not  only  was  he  triumphantly  acquitted,  but  the 
jury  brought  in  a  verdict  against  M'Intosh  for  damages  to  the 
amount  of  four  thousand  dollars.  Gov.  Harrison,  having  thus  ob- 
tained the  perfect  vindication  of  his  character,  distributed  one- 
third  of  the  sum  to  the  orphan  children  of  those  who  had  died  in 
battle,  and  restored  the  remainder  to  M'Intosh  himself. 

The  proprietor  of  the  land  upon  which  the  city  of  St.  Louis  now 
stands  offered  him  nearly  half  of  the  whole  town  for  a  merely 
nominal  sum  if  he  would  assist  in  building  up  the  place.  So  nice 
was  his  sense  of  honor,  that  he  declined  the  offer,  lest  it  might  be 
said  that  he  had  used  his  official  station  to  promote  his  private 
interests.  In  a  few  years,  that  property  was  worth  millions.  A 
large  tract  of  land  near  Cincinnati  had  been  sold,* in  the  early  set- 
tlement of  tlie  country,  under  an  execution  against  the  original 
proprietor,  for  a  very  small  sum.  At  length,  after  the  property  had 
become  immensely  valuable,  it  was  found,  that,  by  some  defective 
proceedings  in  the  court,  the  sale  was  not  valid  ;  and  the  legal 
title  was  vested  in  Mrs.  Harrison  and  another  individual,  as  heirs- 
at-law.  The  lofty  spirit  of  integrity  which  animated  Gen.  Harri- 
son led  him  instantly  to  discriminate  between  a  legal  and  an 
equitable  title.  He  obtained  the  consent  of  the  co-heir,  and  imme- 
diately relinquished  the  whole  property  to  the  purchasers.  These 
incidents  surely  reveal  a  character  of  very  unusual  magnanim- 
ity, disinterestedness,  and  generosity. 

The  vast  wilderness  over  which  Gov.  Harrison  reigned  was 
filled,  as  we  have  mentioned,  with  many  tribes  of  Indians.  About 
the  year  1806,  two  extraordinary  men,  twin-brothers,  of  the  Shaw- 
nese  tribe,  rose  up  among  them.    One  of  these  was  called  Tii- 


260  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

cumseh,  or  "The  Crouching  Panther;"  the  other,  Olliwacheca, or 
"  The  Prophet."  Tecumseh  was  not  only  an  Indian  warrior,  but 
a  man  of  great  sagacity,  far-reaching  foresight,  and  indomitable 
perseverance  in  any  enterprise  in  which  he  might  engage.  He 
was  inspired  with  the  highest  enthusiasm,  and  had  long  regarded 
with  dread  and  with  hatred  the  encroachment  of  the  whites  upon 
the  hunting-grounds  of  his  fathers.  His  brother,  the  Prophet, 
was  an  orator,  Avho  could  sway  the  feelings  of  the  untutored  In- 
dian as  the  gale  tossed  the  tree-tops  beneath  which  they  dwelt. 

But  the  Prophet  Avas  not  merely  an  orator :  he  was,  in  the  su- 
perstitious minds  of  the  Indians,  invested  with  the  superhuman 
dignity  of  a  medicine-man,  or  a  magician.  With  an  enthusiasm 
unsurpassed  by  Peter  the  Hermit  rousing  Europe  to  the  crusades, 
he  went  from  tribe  to  tribe,  assuming  that  he  was  specially  sent 
by  the  Great  Spirit.  In  the  name  of  his  divine  Master,  he  com- 
manded them  to  abandon  all  those  innovations  which  had  been 
introduced  through  the  white  man,  to  return  to  the  customs  of 
their  fathers,  and  to  combine  together  for  the  extermination 
of  the  pale-faces.  In  co-operation  with  him,  his  heroic  brother 
Tecumseh  traversed  thousands  of  miles  of  the  forest,  visiting  the 
remoter  tribes,  announcing  to  them  the  divine  mission  of  his 
brother,  and  seeking  to  enlist  their  co-operation.  No  discourage- 
ments chilled  the  zeal  of  these  extraordinary  and  determined  men. 
They  probably  wrought  themselves  up  to  the  full  conviction  that 
they  were  commissioned  by  the  Great  Spirit. 

The  Prophet  had  occasionally  protracted  meetings  for  exhorta- 
tion and  pra3^er,  in  which,  through  successive  days,  he  plied  all 
the  arts  of  devotion  and  persuasion  to  fire  the  hearts  of  his  fol- 
lowers.    Two  years  were  thus  employed  by  these  two  brothers. 

In  the  summer  of  1808,  the  Prophet  established  his  encamp- 
ment on  the  banks  of  the  Tippecanoe,  a  tributary  of  the  Upper 
Wabash.  The  measures  of  Tecumseh  and  the  Prophet,  in  organ- 
izing this  formidable  conspiracy,  had  been  conducted  as  secretly 
as  possible ;  but  the  suspicions  of  the  Government  began  to  be 
aroused.  To  allay  these  suspicions,  the  Prophet  visited  Gov. 
Harrison,  and,  in  an  exceedingly  insidious  and  plausible  speech, 
stated  that  he  had  nc  designs  whatever  of  rousing  his  people  to 
hostilities  ;  that  he  sought  only  their  moral  and  religious  im- 
provement. 

A  large  number  of  the  Indians  accorapanieil  l;:ni.     He  often 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  261 

preached  to  them  in  the  preseDce  of  the  governor ;  and  his  two 
great  topics  were  the  evils  of  war  and  of  whiskey-drinking.  His 
power  over  them  had  become  so  great,  that  by  no  persuasions 
of  the  whites  could  one  of  his  followers  be  induced  to  take  a 
drop  of  intoxicating  drink.  Still  rumors  were  continually  reach- 
ing Gov.  Harrison,  that  the  Indians  were  making  extensive 
preparations  for  hostilities. 

In  his  earnest  solicitude  to  learn  the  facts  in  the  case,  he  sent 
urgent  invitations  for  both  Tecumseh  and  the  Prophet  to  visit 
him.  Tecumseh  at  length  came  to  Vincennes  in  proud  array,  with 
four  hundred  plumed  warriors  completely  armed.  A  council  was 
holden  on  the  12th  of  August,  1809.  The  governor  was  quite 
unprepared  for  the  appearance  of  a  host  so  formidable.  Assum- 
ing, however,  that  all  was  friendly,  he  met  the  proud  chieftain, 
whom  we  call  a  savage,  to  deliberate  upon  the  state  of  affairs. 
The  governor  was  attended  by  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
a  few  army  officers,  and  a  number  of  citizens.  A  small  body- 
guard, consisting  merely  of  a  sergeant  and  twelve  men,  were 
drawn  up  at  a  little  distance.  Tecumseh  still  affirmed,  in  a  very 
dignified  speech  which  he  made  to  the  governor,  that  he  had  no 
intention  of  making  war :  but  he  very  boldly  declared  that  it  was 
his  intention  and  endeavor  to  combine  all  the  tribes  for  the  purpose 
of  putting  a  stop  to  all  further  encroachments  by  the  whites ;  that 
not  another  acre  of  land  should  be  ceded  to  them,  without  the 
consent  of  all  the  tribes ;  and  that  those  chiefs  who  had  recently 
made  treaties  by  which  they  had  disposed  of  lands  to  the  United 
States  should  all  be  put  to  death. 

This  statement  led  to  indignant  remonstrance  on  the  part  of 
Gov.  Harrison.  As  he  was  speaking,  Tecumseli  interrupted  him, 
and  in  angry  tones,  and  with  violent  gesticulations,  declared  that 
he  had  cheated  the  Indians.  Immediately  his  warriors,  who  were 
squatted  upon  the  grass  around,  sprang  to  their  feet,  and  began 
to  brandish  their  war-clubs  in  the  most  threatening  manner. 
Gov.  Harrison  rose  from  his  arm-chair,  and  drew  his  sword.  The 
army  oflScers  gathered  around  him.  The  citizens  seized  brick- 
bats, and  such  other  weapons  as  they  could  lay  their  hands  on ; 
and  the  guard  came  rushing  forward,  ready  to  open  fire  upon  the 
Indians. 

But  Gov.  Harrison  calmly  ordered  them  not  to  fire.  Then, 
turning  to  Tecumseh,  he  told  him  that  he  should  hold  no.  m.ore 


262 


LIVES   OF   THE  PRESIDENTS. 


communication  with  him,  but  that,  as  he  had  come  under  protec- 
tion of  the  council-fire,  he   might  depart  unharmed.     Tecumseh 


HARRISON   S   INTERVIEW   -VVITII    TECCMSEH. 


and  his  companions  retired  to  their  encampment.  That  night  the 
militia  of  Vincennes  were  under  arms,  everv  moment  expecting 
an  attack.  The  night,  however,  passed  without  any  alarm.  In 
the  morning,  'iecumseh  called  upon  the  governor,  expressed  re 
gret  for  his  conduct  the  day  before,  and  reiterated  his  declaration 
that  he  had  no  hostile  intentions,  but  was  still  firm  in  his  position 
that  no  more  land  should  be  ceded  to  the  whites  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  chiefs  of  all  the  tribes ;  and  that  the  treaty  which  a  few 
of  the  chiefs  had  recently  entered  into  with  the  governor  at  Fort 
Wayne,  he  and  his  confederate  tribes  would  regard  as  null  and 
void. 

Soon  after  this,  Gov.  Harrison,  anxious  to  conciliate,  visiteu 
Tecumseh  at  his  camp  on  the  Tippecanoe  River,  a  branch  of  the 
Upper  "Wabash,  some  two  hundred  miles  above  Yincennes.  He 
was  politely  received  by  the  Indian  chieftain:  but  he  was  informed, 
in  language  courteous  but  decided,  that,  though  the  Indians  were 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  263 

very  unwilling  to  go  to  war  with  the  United  States,  they  were 
determined  that  the  land  recently  ceded  should  not  be  given  up, 
and  that  no  other  treaty  should  ever  be  made  without  the  consent 
of  all  the  tribes.  This  was  ridiculously  assuming  that  all  the 
land  on  the  continent  belonged  to  the  Indians  in  common,  and 
that  tribes  on  the  St.  Lawrence  could  not  enter  into  a  treaty 
without  the  consent  of  tribes  upon  the  Gulf. 

Months  rolled  on,  while  Tecumseh  and  the  Prophet  were  busy 
in  their  hostile  preparations.  Marauding  bands  of  Indians,  whom 
they  professed  to  be  unable  to  control,  were  perpetrating  innumer- 
able annoyances.  Horses  were  stolen,  houses  plundered ;  and  the 
frontier  settlements,  which  had  now  become  quite  numerous,  were 
thrown  into  a  state  of  great  alarm.  Tecumseh  set  out  on  a  journey 
to  enlist  the  Southern  Indians  in  his  confederacy.  The  posture 
of  affairs  became  so  threatening,  that  it  was  decided  that  the 
governor  should  visit  the  Prophet's  town  with  an  armed  force,  to 
observe  what  was  going  on,  and  to  overawe  by  an  exhibition  of 
power,  but  to  avoid  hostilities  if  possible.  Nearly  a  thousand 
troops  were  collected  for  this  enterprise  at  Fort  Harrison,  on  the 
Wabash,  about  sixty  miles  above  Vincennes. 

The  army  commenced  its  march  on  the  28th  of  October,  1812. 
Conscious  of  the  bravery  and  sagacity  of  their  enemies,  they 
moved  in  two  bands,  on  each  side  of  the  Indian  trail,  over  the 
prairies,  in  such  order  that  they  could  instantly  be  formed  into 
line  of  battle,  or  thrown  into  a  hollow  square.  Their  route  led 
them  along  the  east  bank  of  the  Wabash,  through  an  open  prairie 
country.  Early  in  November,  they  approached  the  Valley  of  the 
Tippecanoe,  and  encamped  within  ten  miles  of  the  Proi3het's 
town.  The  next  morning,  the  5th,  as  they  resumed  their  march, 
several  parties  of  Indians  were  seen  prowling  about ;  but  they 
evaded  all  attempts  at  communication,  replying  only  to  such  en- 
deavors with  defiant  and  insulting  gestures.  When  they  had 
arrived  within  three  miles  of  the  town,  three  Indians  of  rank  made 
their  appearance,  and  inquired  why  Gov.  Harrison  was  approach- 
ing them  in  so  hostile  an  attitude.  After  a  short  conference, 
arrangements  were  made  for  a  meeting  the  next  day,  to  agree 
upon  terms  of  peace. 

But  Gov.  Harrison  was  too  well  acquainted  with  the  Indian 
character  to  be  deceived  by  such  protestations.  Selecting  a 
favorable  spot  for  his  night's  encampment,  he  took  every  pre- 


264  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

caution  against  surprise.  His  troops  were  posted  in  a  hollow 
square,  and  slept  upon  their  arms.  Each  corps  was  ordered,  in 
case  of  an  attack,  to  maintain  its  position  at  every  hazard,  until 
relieved.  The  dragoons  were  placed  in  the  centre,  and  were 
directed,  should  there  be  any  alarm,  immediately  to  parade,  dis- 
mounted, and  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  relieve  the  point 
assailed.  The  most  minute  arrangements  were  given  to  meet 
every  conceivable  contingency. 

The  troops  threw  themselves  upon  the  ground  for  rest;  but 
every  man  had  his  accoutrements  on,  his  loaded  musket  by  his 
side,  and  his  bayonet  fixed.  The  wakeful  governor,  between 
three  and  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  had  risen,  and  was  sitting  in 
conversation  with  his  aides  by  the  embers  of  a  waning  fire.  It 
was  a  chill,  cloudy  morning,  with  a  drizzling  rain.  In  the  dark- 
ness, the  Indians  had  crept  as  near  as  possible,  and  just  then,  with 
a  savage  yell,  rushed,  with  all  the  desperation  which  superstition 
and  passion  most  highly  inflamed  could  give,  upon  the  left  flank 
of  the  little  army.  The  savages  had  been  amply  provided  with 
guns  and  ammunition  by  the  English.  Their  war-whoop  was 
accompanied  with  an  incessant  shower  of  bullets. 

The  camp-fires  were  instantly  extinguished,  as  the  light  aided 
the  Indians  in  their  aim.  With  hideous  yells,  the  Indian  bands 
rushed  on,  not  doubting  a  speedy  and  an  entire  victory.  But  Gen. 
Harrison's  troops  stood  as  immovable  as  the  rocks  around  them 
until  the  day  dawned :  they  then  made  a  simultaneous  charge  with 
the  bayonet,  and  swept  every  thing  before  them.  The  wretched 
Indians  found  the  predictions  of  their  Prophet  utterly  false ;  for 
the  bullets  and  the  bayonets  of  the  white  man  pierced  their  bodies 
with  appalling  slaughter.  The  Prophet  was  present  to  witness  this 
terrible  defeat  of  his  picked  braves.  The  Indians,  even  when  most 
reckless,  were  careful  to  conceal  themselves  as  much  as  possible 
behind  trees  and  rocks ;  consequently,  in  most  of  their  battles, 
they  lost  but  few  in  killed  and  wounded:  but  in  this  case,  when 
they  fled  to  the  swamp,  they  left  sixty -one  dead  upon  the  field, 
and  one  hundred  and  twenty  bleeding  and  helpless. 

Though  the  victory  was  entire,  the  loss  of  the  Americans  was 
fully  equal  to  that  of  the  Indians. 

Gen.  Harrison  was  exposed  like  all  his  men.  One  bullet  passed 
through  the  rim  of  his  hat;  another  struck  his  saddle,  and,  glancing, 
hit  his  thigh ;  a  third  severely  wounded  the  horse  on  which  he 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  265 

rode.  His  coolness  and  good  generalship  were  so  conspicuous  as 
to  add  greatly  to  his  reputation ;  and  subsequently  the  battle  of 
Tippecanoe  became  a  watchword  to  inspire  the  zeal  of  those  who 
were  elevating  him  to  the  presidency  of  the  United  States.  After 
burying  the  dead  and  taking  care  of  the  wounded,  they  burned 
the  Indian  town,  and  destroyed  every  thing  which  could  aid  the 
savages  in  their  future  hostilities;  and  returned  to  Vincennes. 

Tecumseh  was  then  far  away  in  the  South,  endeavoring  to  rouse 
the  Indians  there.  But  the  tribes  in  the  North-west,  disappointed 
by  the  false  predictions  of  the  Prophet,  and  disheartened  by  their 
defeat,  began  to  send  deputies  to  Vincennes  to  secure  peace. 
Soon,  however,  Tecumseh  returned  ;  our  second  war  with  Great 
Britain  commenced ;  and  the  savages  were  drawn  into  an  alliance 
with  the  English,  and  were  animated  to  renew  hostilities  with 
more  desperation  than  ever  before. 

Gov.  Harrison  had  now  all  his  energies  tasked  to  the  utmost. 
The  British,  descending  from  the  Canadas,  were  of  themselves  a 
very  formidable  force  ;  but  with  their  savage  allies,  rushing  like 
wolves  from  the  forest,  searching  out  every  remote  farm-house, 
burning,  plundering,  scalping,  torturing,  the  wide  frontier  was 
plunged  into  a  state  of  consternation  which  even  the  most 
vivid  imagination  can  but  faintly  conceive.  The  war-whoop  was 
resounding  everywhere  through  the  solitudes  of  the  forest.  The 
horizon  was  illuminated  with  the  conflagration  of  the  cabins  of 
the  settlers.  Gen.  Hull  had  made  the  ignominious  surrender 
of  his  forces  at  Detroit.  Under  these  despairing  circumstances. 
Gov.  Harrison  was  appointed  by  President  Madison  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  North-western  army,  with  orders  to  retake  Detroit, 
and  to  protect  the  frontiers. 

To  meet  the  emergency,  he  was  invested  with  almost  unlimited 
authority.  His  army  was  to  be  collected  from  widely  dispersed 
cabins,  where  the  women  and  the  children  would  thus  be  left  un- 
protected. His  men  were  entirely  ignorant  of  discipline.  His 
officers  were  inexperienced.  There  was  then  neither  railroad 
nor  steamboat ;  and  almost  every  thing  for  the  supply  of  the  army 
had  to  be  transported  over  the  wildest,  roughest  roads,  from  the 
Atlantic  States.  To  reach  Detroit,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to 
traverse  a  swampy  forest,  two  hundred  miles  in  extent,  without 
roads ;  and  the  wilderness  was  ranged  by  the  prowling  Indian, 
ever  liable  to  burst  upon  him  from  his  ambush.     At  Detroit,  ho 

84 


266  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

would  encounter  the  trained  soldiers  of  England,  veterans  of  a 
hundred  battles,  under  leaders  of  renown,  and  aided  by  ferocious 
bands  of  savages,  amply  supplied  with  the  most  deadly  weapons 
of  war.  The  English  had  also  quite  a  fleet  which  commanded  the 
waters  of  Lake  Erie. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  place  a  man  in  a  situation  demanding 
more  energy,  sagacity,  and  courage  ;  but  Gen.  Harrison  was  found 
equal  to  the  position,  and  nobly  and  triumphantly  did  he  meet 
all  the  responsibilities.  A  minute  account  of  his  adventures,  his 
midnight  marches,  his  bloody  conflicts,  his  sufferings  from  storms 
of  sleet  and  snow,  from  famine,  sickness,  exposure,  destitution, 
would  fill  volumes.  The  renown  of  such  a  man  as  Gen.  Harrison 
is  not  cheaply  gained.  It  is  purchased  at  a  great  price.  The 
Government,  as  we  have  mentioned,  invested  him  with  almost 
absolute  power ;  but,  with  all  his  tireless  energy,  never  did  he 
in  the  slightest  degree  abuse  that  trust. 

He  was  a  man  of  winning  address,  of  a  gentle  and  affectionate 
spirit,  and  possessed  native  powers  of  persuasive  eloquence  which 
were  very  rare.  A  scene  is  described  at  one  of  their  encamp- 
ments which  will  illustrate  many  others.  The  little  army  was 
groping  through  the  forest,  on  the  banks  of  the  Au  Glaise.  Night 
came  on,  dark,  stormy,  and  with  sheets  of  rain.  The  low  ground 
was  soon  flooded.  They  had  no  axes,  could  build  no  fires  ;  and,  as 
they  had  got  ahead  of  their  baggage,  they  had  no  food.  Some  took 
their  saddles,  and  sat  upon  them ;  others  found  logs ;  others  stood 
in  the  water,  and  leaned  against  the  trunks  of  trees.  Thus  they 
passed  the  miserable  night.  Gen.  Harrison  shared  all  these  dis- 
comforts with  his  men.  As  he  sat  in  the  pouring  rain,  wrapped 
in  his  cloak,  with  his  stafi"  around  him,  he  called  upon  one  of  his 
officers,  who  had  a  fine  voice,  to  sing  a  humorous  Irish  song,  with 
the  chorus, — 

"  Now's  the  time  for  mirth  and  glee  : 
Sing  and  laugh  and  dance  with  me." 

The  troops  joined  in  the  refrain  ;  and  thus,  in  that  black  night  of 
storm  and  flood,  the  forest  echoed  with  sounds  of  merriment. 

Gen.  Harrison  had  succeeded  in  raising  a  force  of  about  six 
thousand  men.  He  soon  became  satisfied  that  Detroit  could  be 
taken  only  in  a  winter-campaign,  when  the  vast  morasses,  being 
frozen,  could  be  traversed  by  the  army.     His  right  wing  was  ren- 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  267 

dezvoused  at  Sandusky.  About  eight  Imndied  men,  under  Gen. 
Winchester,  marched  to  the  mouth  of  the  River  Raisin,  where  they 
were  attacked,  routed,  and  compelled  to  surrender.  All  the 
wounded  were  massacred  by  the  Indians.  Dreadful  was  the  suffer- 
ing that  this  disaster  caused  ;  and  it  was  along  time  before  it  could 
be  known  who  were  prisoners,  and  who  had  fallen  beneath  the 
bloody  knives  of  the  savages.  This  unfortunate  expedition  had 
been  undertaken  without  the  knowledge  of  Gen.  Harrison.  Hav- 
ing heard  of  the  movement,  he  did  every  thing  in  his  power,  but  in 
vain,  to  avert  the  disastrous  results.  Nine  hundred  of  the  most 
promising  young  men  of  the  North-west  were  lost  in  this  melan- 
choly adventure.  This  was  the  latter  part  of  January,  1813. 
Gen.  Harrison,  who  had  now  received  the  appointment  of  major- 
general  in  the  United-States  army,  found  it  necessary  to  go  into 
winter-quarters ;  though  he  fitted  out  three  expeditions  against 
the  Indians,  one  only  of  which  proved  successful. 

The  Government  at  length,  urged  by  Gen.  Harrison,  prepared 
for  the  construction  of  a  fleet  to  command  the  waters  of  the  Lake. 
Gen.  Harrison  had  an  unstable  body  of  men  at  Fort  Meigs  ;  the 
enlistments  being  for  short  periods,  and  it  being  impossible  to  hold 
the  men  after  the  term  of  service  had  expired.  The  most  arduous 
of  Gen.  Harrison's  labors  were  his  almost  superhuman  exertions 
to  raise  an  army.  In  August  of  1814,  the  British,  with  their 
savage  allies,  appeared  before  Sandusky,  Avhich  was  protected  by 
Fort  Stephenson.  They  approached  by  their  vessels  along  the 
lake,  and  also,  with  a  land  force,  through  the  forest,  followed  by 
their  howling  allies.  They  were,  however,  after  a  stern  battle, 
handsomely  repulsed.  On  the  10th  of  September,  Commodore 
Perry,  with  his  gallant  squadron,  met  the  British  fleet,  and,  at  the 
close  of  an  heroic  struggle,  had  the  pleasure  of  announcing  that 
they  were  ours.  Gen.  Harrison  was  now  prepared  to  carry  the 
war  home  to  the  enemy.  He  crossed  the  lake,  took  possession 
of  Sandwich,  the  British  retreating  before  him  ;  and  then  sent  a 
brigade  across  the  strait,  which  seized  Detroit.  The  British 
retreated  up  the  Thames,  pursued  by  the  Americans.  Proc- 
tor led  the  British  forces,  and  Tecumseh  led  his  savage  allies. 
The  foe  made  a  stand  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames.  The  battle 
was  short  and  decisive.  Our  dragoons  rode  impetuously  over  the 
ranks  of  the  British,  and  compelled  an  almost  instantaneous  sur- 
render.    The  Indians  continued  the  fight  a  little  longer,  but  were 


268  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

at  length  dispersed,  leaving  their  chief,  Tecuuiseh,  dead  upon  the 
field.  All  the  stores  of  the  British  army  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victors. 

Gen.  Harrison  won  the  love  of  his  soldiers  by  always  sharing 
with  them  their  fatigue.  His  whole  baggage,  while  pursuing 
the  foe  up  the  Thames,  was  carried  in  a  valise  ;  and  his  bed- 
ding consisted  of  a  single  blanket  lashed  over  his  saddle.  Thirty- 
five  British  officers,  his  prisoners  of  war,  supped  with  him  after 
the  battle.  The  only  fare  he  could  give  them  was  beef  roasted 
before  the  fire,  without  bread  or  salt. 

This  great  victory  gave  peace  to  the  North-western  frontier ;  and 
Gen.  Harrison  decided  to  send  a  large  portion  of  his  force  to 
Niagara,  to  assist  in  repelling  the  foe,  who  were  concentrating 
there.  Fifteen  hundred  men  were  transported  by  the  fleet  to 
Buffalo,  which  they  reached  on  the  24th  of  October,  1814. 

In  consequence  of  some  want  of  harmony  with  the  Secretary  of 
War,  Gen.  Harrison  resigned  his  commission,  much  to  the  regret 
of  President  Madison :  he,  however,  still  continued  to  be  em- 
ployed in  the  service  of  his  country.  He  was  appointed  to  treat 
with  the  Indian  tribes ;  and  he  conducted  the  negotiations  so  skil- 
fully, as  to  secure  the  approbation  both  of  the  Indians  and  of  the 
United-States  Government.  In  1816,  Gen.  Harrison  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  National  House  of  Representatives  to  represent 
the  District  of  Ohio.  It  was  not  possible  that  a  man  who  had 
occupied  posts  so  responsible,  who  had  often  thwarted  the  at- 
tempted frauds  of  Government  contractors,  and  who  had  defended 
the  weak  against  the  powerful,  should  not  have  some  bitter 
enemies.  In  the  contest  which  preceded  his  election  to  Congress, 
he  had  been  accused  of  corruption  in  respect  to  the  commissariat 
of  the  army.  Immediately  upon  taking  his  seat,  he  called  for  an 
investigation  of  the  charge.  A  committee  was  appointed  :  his  vin- 
dication was  triumphant;  and  a  high  compliment  was  paid  to  his 
patriotism,  disinterestedness,  and  devotion  to  the  public  service. 
For  these  services,  a  gold  medal  was  presented  to  him,  with  the 
thanks  of  Congress. 

In  Congress  he  proved  an  active  member ;  and,  whenever  he 
spoke,  it  was  with  a  force  of  reason,  and  power  of  eloquence,  which 
arrested  the  attention  of  all  the  members.  When  the  celebrated 
debate  came  up  respecting  the  conduct  of  Gen.  Jackson  during 
the   Seminole  war,  he  eloquently  supported  the    resolutions   of 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  269 

censure,  while  he  paid  a  noble  tribute  to  the  patriotism  and  good 
intentions  of  the  reckless  and  law-defying  general.  In  the  splen- 
did speech  which  he  made  upon  this  occasion,  which  was  alike 
replete  with  eloquence,  true  philosophy,  and  the  most  exalted 
patriotism,  he  said,  — 

"  I  am  sure,  sir,  that  it  is  not  the  intention  of  any  gentleman 
upon  this  floor  to  rob  Gen.  Jackson  of  a  single  ray  of  glory  ;  much 
less  to  wound  his  feelings,  or  injure  his  reputation.  If  the  resolu- 
tions  pass,  I  would  address  him  thus :  '  In  the  performance  of  a 
sacred  duty,  imposed  by  their  construction  of  the  Constitution, 
the  representatives  of  the  people  have  found  it  necessary  to  disap- 
prove of  a  single  act  of  your  brilliant  career.  They  have  done  it 
in  the  full  conviction,  that  the  hero  who  has  guarded  her  rights  in 
the  field  will  bow  with  reverence  to  the  civil  institutions  of  his 
country ;  that  he  has  admitted  as  his  creed,  that  the  character  of 
the  soldier  can  never  be  complete  without  eternal  reverence 
to  the  character  of  the  citizen.  Go,  gallant  chief,  and  bear  with  you 
the  gratitude  of  your  country ;  go,  under  the  full  conviction,  that, 
as  her  glory  is  identified  with  yours,  she  has  nothing  more  dear  to 
her  than  her  laws,  nothing  more  sacred  than  her  Constitution.  Even 
an  unintentional  error  shall  be  sanctified  to  her  service.  It  will 
teach  posterity  that  the  Government  which  could  disapprove  the 
conduct  of  a  Marcellus  will  have  the  fortitude  to  crush  the  vices 
uf  a  Marius.'  " 

Gen.  Jackson  was  not  a  man  to  bear  the  slightest  opposition. 
These  noble  sentiments,  as  uttered  by  Gen.  Harrison,  he  never 
forgot  or  forgave. 

In  1819,  Harrison  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  Ohio  ;  and  in  1824, 
as  one  of  the  presidential  electors  of  that  State,  he  gave  his  vote 
for  Henry  Clay,  and  in  the  same  year  was  chosen  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States.  The  half-crazed  John  Randolph  made  one  of 
his  characteristic  attacks,  virulent  and  senseless,  accusing  him  of 
being  a  black-cockade  Federalist,  and  of  associating  with  gentle- 
men of  that  party.  Mr.  Harrison  rose,  and,  with  that  dignified  and 
attractive  eloquence  which  he  had  at  his  command,  said,  — 

"I  am  seriously  charged  with  the  heinous  ofi"ence  of  associating 
with  Federal  gentlemen.  I  plead  guilty.  I  respected  the  Revolu- 
tionary services  of  President  John  Adams,  and  have  paid  him  that 
courtesy  which  was  due  to  him  as  a  man  and  as  Chief  Magistrate. 
I  have  also  associated  with  such  men  as  John  Marshall  and  James 


270  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

A.  Bayard.  Is  the  acknowledgment  of  such  guilt  to  throw  me  out 
of  the  pale  of  political  salvation? 

"On  the  other  hand,  I  am  on  intimate  terms  with  Mr.  Jefferson, 
Mr.  Gallatin,  and  the  whole  Virginia  delegation,  among  whom  I 
have  many  kinsmen  and  dear  friends.  These  were  my  principal 
associates  in  Philadelphia,  in  whose  mess  I  have  often  met  the 
gentleman  who  is  now  my  accuser,  and  with  whom  I  have  spent 
some  of  the  happiest  hours  of  my  life.  It  is  not  in  my  nature  to  be 
a  violent  or  prescriptive  partisan;  but  I  have  given  a  firm  support 
to  the  Republican  administrations  of  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  Mon- 
roe.    I  hope  the  senator  from  Virginia  is  answered." 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1828,  President  John  Quincy 
Adams  appointed  Gen.  Harrison  minister  plenipotentiary  to  the 
Republic  of  Colombia;  but  Gen.  Jackson,  immediately  after  his  in- 
auguration in  1829,  implacably  recalled  him.  While  he  was  in  Co- 
lombia, the  proposition  was  agitated  of  laying  aside  the  Constitution, 
and  investing  Bolivar  with  the  dictatorship.  Gen.  Harrison  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  Bolivar,  who  was  his  personal  friend,  entreating 
him  not  to  accede  to  this  arrangement.  This  document  was  written 
with  so  much  elegance  of  diction,  such  glowing  eloquence,  and 
such  enlightened  statesmanship,  as  to  secure  the  admiration  of 
every  one  who  read  it. 

A  few  sentences  only  can  we  quote  as  specimens  of  the  whole :  — 

"  A  successful  warrior  is  no  longer  regarded  as  entitled  to  the 
first  place  in  the  temple  of  fame.  In  this  enlightened  age,  the  hero 
of  the  field,  and  the  successful  leader  of  armies,  may,  for  the  mo- 
ment, attract  attention  ;  but  it  is  such  as  will  be  bestowed  upon 
the  passing  meteor,  whose  blaze  is  no  longer  remembered  when  it 
is  no  longer  seen.  To  be  esteemed  eminently  great,  it  is  necessary 
to  be  eminently  good.  The  qualities  of  the  hero  and  the  general 
must  be  devoted  to  the  advantage  of  mankind  before  he  will  be 
permitted  to  assume  the  title  of  their  benefactor.  If  the  fame  of 
our  Washington  depended  upon  his  military  achievements,  would 
the  common  consent  of  the  world  allow  him  the  pre-eminence  he 
possesses?  The  victories  at  Trenton,  Monmouth,  and  York,  brilliant 
as  they  were,  exhibiting,  as  they  certainly  did,  the  highest  grade 
of  military  talents,  are  scarcely  thought  of.  The  source  of  the 
veneration  and  esteem  which  are  entertained  for  his  character  by 
every  class  of  politicians  —  the  monarchist  and  aristocrat,  as  well  as 
the  republican  —  is  to  be  found  in  his  undcviating  and  exclusive 


/ 

WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON.  271 

devotedness  to  his  country.  No  selfish  consideration  wa?  ever 
suffered  to  intrude  itself  into  his  mind.  General,  the  course  which 
he  pursued  is  open  to  you ;  and  it  depends  upon  yourself  to  attain 
the  eminence  which  he  has  reached  before  you." 

Upon  Gen.  Harrison's  return  from  Colombia  to  the  United 
States,  he  retired  to  his  farm  at  North  Bend,  on  the  Ohio,  and, 
in  the  enjoyment  of  a  humble  competency,  devoted  himself  to 
the  peaceful  pursuits  of  agriculture.  With  true  Roman  dignity, 
he  accepted  the  office  of  clerk  to  the  court  of  Hamilton  County,  as 
a  means  of  adding  to  his  limited  income.  In  1831,  he  was  chosen 
to  give  the  annual  discourse  before  the  agricultural  society  of 
that  county. 

Gen.  Harrison  had  once  owned  a  distillery  ;  but,  perceiving  the 
sad  effects  of  whiskey  upon  the  surrounding  population,  he  promptly 
abandoned  the  business,  at  a  very  considerable  pecuniary  sacrifice. 
In  his  very  admirable  address,  he,  with  great  fervor  and  eloquence, 
entreats  his  brother-farmers  not  to  convert  their  corn  into  that 
poison  which  was  found  so  deadly  both  to  the  body  and  to  the 
soul.  "I  speak  more  freely,"  said  he,  "of  the  practice  of  con- 
verting the  material  of  the  staff  of  life  into  an  article  which  is 
so  destructive  of  health  and  happiness,  because,  in  that  way,  I 
have  sinned  myself;  but  in  that  way  I  shall  sin  no  more." 

The  subject  of  slavery  was  at  this  time  fearfully  agitating  our 
land.  Gen.  Harrison,  though  very  decidedly  opposed  to  any 
interference  on  the  part  of  the  General  Government  with  slavery 
as  it  existed  in  the  States,  was  still  the  warm  friend  of  universal 
freedom.  In  replying  to  the  accusation  of  being  friendly  to 
slavery,  he  said,  — 

''  From  my  earliest  youth,  and  to  the  present  moment,  I  have 
been  the  ardent  friend  of  human  liberty.  At  the  age  of  eighteen, 
I  became  a  member  of  an  abolition  society  established  at  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  the  object  of  which  was  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
slaves,  and  procure  their  freedom  by  every  legal  means.  The 
obligations  which  I  then*  came  under  I  have  faithfully  performed. 
I  have  been  the  means  of  liberating  many  slaves,  but  never  placed 
one  in  bondage,  I  was  the  first  person  to  introduce  into  Congress 
the  proposition,  that  all  the  country  above  Missouri  should  never 
have  slavery  admitted  into  it." 

Again :  the  high  Christian  integrity  of  this  noble  man  is  devel- 
oped in  the  reply  to  a  letter  from  a  gentleman  wishing  to  know 


272  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

his  views  upon  the  subject  of  duelling.  The  whole  letter  was  ad- 
mirable, and  was  one  of  the  most  effective  attacks  upon  that 
absurd  and  barbarous  system  that  has  ever  been  made.  In  con- 
clusion, be  says,  — 

"  In  relation  to  my  present  sentiments,  a  sense  of  higher  obliga- 
tions than  human  laws  or  human  opinions  can  impose  has  deter- 
mined me  never  on  any  occasion  to  accept  a  challenge,  or  seek 
redress  for  a  personal  injury,  by  a  resort  to  the  laws  which  com- 
pose the  code  of  honor." 

In  1836,  the  friends  of  Gen.  Harrison  brought  him  forward  as  a 
candidate  for  the  presidency.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  the  Adminis- 
tration candidate,  supported  by  the  almost  omnipotent  influence 
of  Gen,  Jackson.  The  opposition  party  could  not  unite,  and  four 
candidates  were  brought  forward  ;  but  the  canvass  disclosed  the 
popularity  of  Gen.  Harrison,  as  he  received  seventy-three  electcr- 
ral  votes  without  any  general  concert  among  his  friends.  The 
Democratic  party  triumphed  over  their  disorganized  opponents, 
and  Mr,  Van  Buren  was  chosen  president. 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  four  years  of  service,  he  was 
renominated  by  his  party,  and  William  Henry  Harrison  was  unani- 
mously nominated  by  the  Whigs,  by  a  convention  in  which  twenty- 
three  out  of  the  twentj'-six  States  were  represented.  John  Tyler, 
of  Virginia,  was  nominated  for  the  vice-presidency.  The  contest, 
as  usual,  was  very  animated.  Gen.  Jackson  gave  all  his  influence 
to  prevent  Gen.  Harrison's  election  ;  but  his  triumph  was  signal. 
He  received  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  electoral  votes,  leaving 
but  sixty  for  Mr.  Van  Buren.  He  was  then  sixty-seven  years  of 
age.  It  may  be  doubted  if  any  of  his  predecessors  had  taken  the 
presidential  chair  better  prepared  for  its  responsibilities,  in  ability, 
education,  experience,  and  immaculate  integrity,  than  was  Wil- 
liam Henry  Harrison. 

His  passage  from  his  plain  home  to  the  Capitol  presented  a 
constant  succession  of  brilliant  pageants  and  enthusiastic  greet- 
ings. ....  / 

A  vast  concourse  attended  bis  inauguration.  His  address  on 
the  occasion  was  in  accordance  with  his  antecedents,  and  gave 
great  satisfaction ;  expressing  the  fear  that  we  were  in  danger 
of  placing  too  much  power  in  the  hands  of  the  President,  and 
declaring  his  intention  of  exercising  the  powers  intrusted  to 
him  with  great  moderation. 


WILLIAiM  HENRY  HARRISOX.  273 

The  cabinet  which  he  formed,  with  Daniel  Webster  at  its  head 
as  Secretary  of  State,  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  with  which  any 
President  had  ever  been  surrounded.  Never  were  the  prospects 
of  an  administration  more  flattering,  or  the  hopes  of  the  country 
more  sanguine.  In  the  midst  of  these  bright  and  joyous  prospects, 
Gen.  Harrison  was  seized  by  a  pleurisy-fever,  and,  after  a  few  days 
of  violent  sickness,  died  on  the  4th  of  April ;  just  one  short  month 
after  his  inauguration.  In  the  delirium  of  his  sickness,  as  if  aware 
that  death  was  approaching,  and  fancying  that  he  was  addressing 
his  successor,  he  said,  — 

''  Sir,  I  wish  you  to  ui  ierstand  the  principles  of  the  Govern- 
ment: I  wish  them  carrijd  out.     I  ask  nothing  more." 

These  were  his  last  words.  His  death  was  universally  regarded 
as  one  of  the  greate!?t  of  national  calamities.  The  nation  mourned 
with  unfeigned  grief.  Never,  then,  since  the  death  of  Washing- 
ton, vvere  there,  throughout  our  land,  such  demonstrations  of  sor- 
row. A  careful  scrutiny  of  his  character  and  life  must  give  him 
a  high  position  in  the  affection  and  the  esteem  of  every  intelligent 
mind.  Not  one  single  spot  can  be  found  to  sully  the  brightness 
of  his  fame ;  and,  through  all  the  ages,  Americans  will  pronounce 
with  love  and  reverence  the  name  of  William  Henry  Harrison. 

35 


CHAPTER    X. 


JOHN    TYLER. 


His  Parentage.  —  Education  and  Scholarship.  —  Early  Distinction.  —  Success  at  the  Bar  and 
in  Political  Life.  —  Democratic  Principles. —  Course  in  the  Senate.  —  Elected  Vice- 
President.  —  Accession  to  the  Presidency.  —  False  Position,  and  Embarrassments.  — 
Retirement  from  Office.  —  Joins  in  the  Rebellion.--  Death. 


JoH^  Tyler  was  the  fav^ored  child  of  a.lluence  and  high  social 
position.     His  father  possessed  large  landed  estates  in  Virginia, 


RESIDENCE   OF   JOUN   TYLER. 


and  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  his  day;  filling  the 
offices  of  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  and  Governor  of  the  State.  John  was  born  in 
Charles-oity  County,  Va.,  the  29th  of  March,  1790.     He  enjoyed, 


274 


JOHN  TYLER.  275 

in  his  youthful  years,  all  the  advantages  which  wealth  and  paren- 
tal distinction  could  confer.  At  the  early  age  of  twelve,  he  en- 
tered William  and  Mary  College  ;  and  gmduated,  with  much  honor, 
when  but  seventeen  years  old.  His  commencement  address,  upon 
"  Female  Education,"  was  pronounced  to  be  a  very  masterly  per- 
formance. After  graduating,  he  devoted  himself  with  great 
assiduity  to  the  study  of  the  law,  partly  with  his  father,  and 
partly  with  Edmund  Randolph,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  law- 
yers of  Virginia. 

At  nineteen  years  of  age,  he  commenced  the  practice  of  the 
law.  His  success  was  rapid  and  astonishing.  It  is  said  that 
three  months  had  not  elapsed  ere  there  was  scarcely  a  case  on 
the  docket  of  the  court  in  which  he  was  not  retained.  When  but 
twenty -one  years  of  age,  he  was  almost  unanimously  elected  to  a 
seat  in  the  State  Legislature.  He  connected  himself  with  the 
Democratic  party,  and  warmly  advocated  the  measures  of  Jeffer- 
son and  Madison.  For  five  successive  years,  he  was  elected 
to  the  Legislature,  receiving  nearly  the  unanimous  vote  of  his 
county. 

Sympathizing  cordially  with  the  Administration  in  the  second 
war  with  England,  when  the  British  were  ravaging  the  shores  of 
Chesapeake  Bay,  he  exerted  himself  strenuously  to  raise  a  mili- 
tary force  to  resist  them.  When  but  twenty-six  years  of  age,  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  Congress.  Here  he  acted  earnestly  and 
ably  with  the  Democratic  party,  opposing  a  national  bank,  inter- 
nal improvements  by  the  General  Government,  a  protective 
tariff,  and  advocating  a  strict  construction  of  the  Constitution, 
and  the  most  careful  vigilance  over  State  rights.  His  labors  in 
Congress  were  so  arduous,  that,  before  the  close  of  his  second 
term,  he  found  it  necessary  to  resign,  and  retire  to  his  estate  in 
Charles  County  to  recruit  his  health. 

He,  however,  soon  after  consented  to  take  his  seat  in  the  State 
Legislature,  where  his  influence  was  powerful  in  promoting  public 
works  of  great  utility.  Many  of  his  speeches  developed  states- 
manlike views,  and  powers  of  eloquence  of  a  high  order.  With  a 
reputation  thus  constantly  increasing,  he  was  chosen  by  a  very 
large  majority  of  votes,  in  1825,  governor  of  his  native  State, — 
a  high  honor ;  for  Virginia  had  many  able  men  to  be  competitors 
for  the  prize.  His  administration  was  signally  a  successful  one. 
He  urged  forward  internal  improvements,  strove  to  remove  sec- 


276  UVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

tional  jealousies,  and  did  much  to  rouse  the  people  to  an  appre- 
ciation of  their  own  interests.  His  popularity  secured  his 
re-election. 

John  Randolph,  a  brilliant,  erratic,  half-crazed  man,  then  repre- 
sented Virginia  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  A  portion 
of  the  Democratic  party  was  displeased  with  Mr.  Randolph's  way- 
ward course,  and  brought  forward  John  Tyler  as  his  opponent; 
considering  him  the  only  man  in  Virginia  of  sufficient  popularity 
to  succeed  against  the  renowned  orator  of  Roanoke.  Mr.  Tyler 
was  the  victor ;  and,  in  taking  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  he  said  to 
his  Democratic  constituents, — 

"  The  principles  on  which  I  have  acted,  without  abandonment 
in  any  one  instance,  for  the  last  sixteen  years,  in  Congress,  and  in 
the  legislative  hall  of  this  State,  will  be  the  principles  by  which 
I  shall  regulate  my  future  political  life.'' 

John  Quincy  Adams  was  then  President  of  the  United  States, 
having  been  placed  in  that  office  by  the  Whigs.  Mr.  Tyler,  imme- 
diately upon  his  election,  declared,  in  a  public  letter,  his  uncom- 
promising hostility  to  the  principles  of  Mr.  Adams's  administra- 
tion. 

''  In  his  message  to  Congress,"  wrote  Mr.  Tyler,  "  I  saw  an 
almost  total  disregard  of  the  federative  principle,  a  more  latitudi- 
narian  construction  of  the  Constitution  than  has  ever  before  been 
insisted  on.  From  the  moment  of  seeing  that  message,  all  who 
have  known  any  thing  of  me  have  known  that  I  stood  distinctly 
opposed  to  this  administration." 

In  accordance  with  these  professions,  upon  taking  his  seat  in 
the  Senate,  he  joined  the  ranks  of  the  opposition.  He  opposed 
the  tariff;  he  spoke  against  and  voted  against  the  bank,  as  un- 
constitutional ;  he  strenuously  opposed  all  restrictions  upon 
slavery,  resisted  all  projects  of  internal  improvements  by  the 
General  Government,  and  avowed  his  sympathy  with  Mr.  Cal- 
houn's views  of  nullification ;  he  declared  that  Gen.  Jackson,  by 
his  opposition  to  the  nullifiers,  had  abandoned  the  principles  of 
the  Democratic  party.  Such  was  Mr.  Tyler's  record  in  Congress^ — 
a  record  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  principles  which  he  had 
always  avowed. 

Perhaps  there  was  never  hate  more  unrelenting  than  that  with 
which  John  C.  Calhoun  and  Andrew  Jackson  regarded  each  other. 
Mr.  Tyler  was  in  sympathy  with  Mr.  Calhoun  ;  voted  with  him  : 


JOHN  TTLER.  277 

and  it  thus  happened  that  Mr.  Tyler  was  found  in  opposition  to 
Jackson's  administration.  This  hostihty  to  Jackson  caused  Mr. 
Tyler's  retirement  from  the  Senate,  after  his  election  to  a  second 
term.  The  Legislature  of  Virginia  passed  resolutions,  calling  upon 
their  senators  in  Congress  to  vote  to  expunge  from  the  journal  of 
the  Senate  a  vote  censuring  Gen.  Jackson  for  his  usurpation 
of  power  in  removing  the  deposits  of  public  money  from  the 
United-States  Bank,  and  placing  them  in  State  banks.  Mr.  Tyler 
had  cordially  approved  of  this  censure,  avowing  his  convictions 
that  Gen.  Jackson  had  usurped  powers  which  the  Constitution 
did  not  confer  upon  him.  He  had  also  very  emphatically  expressed 
his  belief  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  representative  to  obey  the 
directions  of  his  constituents.  Under  these  circumstances,  he 
felt  constrained  to  resign  his  seat. 

Returning  to  Virginia,  he  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion. There  was  a  split  in  the  Democratic  party.  His  friends 
still  regarded  him  as  a  true  Jeffersonian,  gave  him  a  public  dinner, 
and  showered  compliments  upon  him.  He  had  now  attained  the 
age  of  forty-six.  His  career  had  been  very  brilliant.  In  conse- 
quence of  his  devotion  to  public  business,  his  private  affairs  had 
fallen  into  some  disorder ;  and  it  was  not  without  satisfaction  that 
he  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
culture  of  his  plantation. 

Soon  after  this,  he  removed  to  Williamsburg,  for  the  better  edu- 
cation of  his  children ;  and  again  took  his  seat  in  the  Legislature 
of  Virginia.  He  had  thus  far  belonged  very  decidedly  to  the 
Calhoun  or  States-rights  party.  The  complications  of  party  in 
this  country  are  inexplicable.  There  have  been  so  many  diverse 
and  clashing  interests,  the  same  name  being  often  used  in  differ- 
ent sections  to  represent  almost  antagonistic  principles,  that  one 
need  not  be  surprised  to  find  Mr.  Tyler,  without  any  change  of 
views,  taking  the  name  of  a  Southern  Whig,  still  opposing  the 
tariff,  the  bank,  and  advocating,  to  the  fullest  extent.  State  rights. 
He  was  still  what  the  North  would  call  a  Democrat. 

By  the  Southern  Whigs,  he  was  sent  to  the  national  conven- 
tion at  Harrisburg  to  nominate  a  President  in  1839.  The  majori- 
ty of  votes  was  given  to  Gen.  Harrison,  a  genuine  Whig,  much 
to  the  disappointment  of  the  South,  who  wished  for  Henry  Clay. 
To  conciliate  the  Southern  Whigs,  and  to  secure  their  vote,  the 
convention  then  nominated   John  Tj^ler  for  Vice-President.     It 


278  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

was  well  known  that  he  was  not  in  sympathy  with  the  Whig 
party  in  the  North:  but  the  Vice-President  has  but  very  little 
power  in  the  Government ;  his  main  and  almost  only  duty  being  to 
preside  over  the  meetings  of  the  Senate.  Thus  it  happened  that 
a  Whig  President,  and,  in  reality,  a  Democratic  Vice-President, 
were  chosen. 

In  1841,  Mr.  Tyler  was  inaugurated  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States.  In  one  short  month  from  that  time,  President 
Harrison  died ;  and  Mr.  Tyler  thus  found  himself,  to  his  own  sur- 
prise and  that  of  the  whole  nation,  an  occupant  of  the  presi- 
dential chair.  This  was  a  new  test  of  the  stability  of  our  institu- 
tions, as  it  was  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  our  country  that 
such  an  event  had  occurred.  Mr.  Tyler  was  at  his  home  in 
Williamsburg  when  he  received  the  unexpected  tidings  of  the 
death  of  President  Harrison.  He  hastened  to  Washington,  and, 
on  the  6th  of  April,  was  inaugurated  into  his  high  and  responsible 
office.  He  was  placed  in  a  position  of  exceeding  delicacy  and 
difficulty.  All  his  life  long,  he  had  been  opposed  to  the  main 
principles  of  the  party  which  had  brought  him  into  power.  He 
had  ever  been  a  consistent,  honest  man,  with  an  unblemished 
record.  Gen.  Harrison  had  selected  a  Whig  cabinet.  Should  he 
retain  them,  and  thus  surround  himself  with  counsellors  whose 
views  were  antagonistic  to  his  own  ?  or,  on  the  other  hand,  should 
he  turn  against  the  party  which  had  elected  him,  and  select  a 
cabinet  in  harmony  with  himself,  and  which  would  oppose  all  those 
views  which  the  Whigs  deemed  essential  to  the  public  welfare  ? 
This  was  his  fearful  dilemma. 

President  Tyler  deserves  more  charity  than  he  has  received. 
He  issued  an  address  to  the  people,  carefully  worded,  which  gave 
general  satisfaction.  He  invited  the  cabinet  which  President 
Harrison  had  selected  to  retain  their  seats.  He  recommended  a 
day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  that  God  would  guide  and  bless  us. 

The  Whigs  carried  through  Congress  a  bill  for  the  incorporation 
of  the  fiscal  bank  of  the  United  States.  The  President,  after 
ten  days'  delay,  returned  it  with  his  veto.  He  suggested,  how- 
ever, that  he  would  approve  of  a  bill  drawn  up  upon  such  a 
plan  as  he  proposed.  Such  a  bill  was  accordingly  prepared, 
and  privately  submitted  to  him.  He  gave  it  his  approval. 
It  was  passed  without  alteration,  and  he  sent  it  back  with  his 
veto.     Here  commenced  the  open  rupture.     It  is  said  that  Mr. 


JOHN  TYLER.  279 

Tyler  was  provoked  to  this  measure  by  a  published  letter  from 
the  Hon.  John  M.  Botts,  a  distinguished  Virginia  Whig,  containing 
the  following  sentences,  which  severely  touched  the  pride  of  the 
President:  — 

"  Capt.  Tyler  is  making  a  desperate  effort  to  set  himself  up  with 
the  Locofocos :  but  he'll  be  headed  yet;  and  I  regret  to  say  that  it 
will  end  badly  for  him.  He  will  be  an  object  of  execration  with 
both  parties,  —  with  the  one,  for  vetoing  our  bill,  which  was  bad 
enough ;  with  the  other,  for  signing  a  worse  one  :  but  he  is  hardly 
entitled  to  sympathy.  You'll  get  a  bank  bill,  but  one  that  will 
serve  only  to  fasten  him,  and  to  which  no  stock  will  be  subscribed; 
and,  when  he  finds  out  that  he  is  not  wiser  in  banking  than  all  the 
rest  of  the  world,  we  may  get  a  better." 

The  opposition  now  exultingly  received  the  President  into  their 
arms.  The  party  which  elected  him  denounced  him  bitterly.  All 
the  members  of  his  cabinet,  excepting  Mr.  Webster,  resigned. 
The  Whigs  of  Congress,  both  the  Senate  and  the  House,  held  a 
meeting,  and  issued  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
proclaiming  that  all  political  alliance  between  the  Whigs  and 
President  Tyler  was  at  an  end. 

Still  the  President  attempted  to  conciliate.  He  appointed  a 
new  cabinet  of  distinguished  Whigs  and  Conservatives,  carefully 
leaving  out  all  strong  party  men.  Though  opposed  to  a  protec- 
tive tariff,  he  gave  his  sanction  to  a  tariff-bill,  which  parsed  Con- 
gress. Thus  he  placed  himself  in  a  position  in  which  he  found 
that  he  could  claim  the  support  of  neither  party.  The  Democrat- 
had  a  majority  in  the  House  ;  the  Whigs,  in  the  Senate.  Mr.  Web- 
ster soon  found  it  necessary  to  resign,  forced  out  by  the  pressure 
of  his  Whig  friends. 

Thus  the  four  years  of  Mr.  Tyler's  unfortunate  administration 
passed  sadly  away.  No  one  was  satisfied.  The  land  was  filled 
with  murmurs  and  vituperation.  Whigs  and  Democrats  aliki^ 
assailed  him.  More  and  more,  however,  he  brought  himself  intu 
sympathy  with  his  old  friends  the  Democrats ;  until,  at  the  close 
of  his  term,  he  gave  his  whole  influence  to  the  support  of  Mr. 
Polk,  the  Democratic  candidate,  for  his  successor.  Several  very 
important  measures  were  adopted  during  his  administration. 
Situated  as  he  was,  it  is  more  than  can  be  expected  of  human 
nature  that  he  should,  in  all  cases,  have  acted  in  the  wisest  man- 
ner ;  but  it  will  probably  be  the  verdict  of  all  candid  men,  in  a  care- 


280  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

ful  review  of  his  career,  that  John  Tyler  was  placed  in  a  position 
of  such  exceeding  diflSculty,  that  he  could  not  pursue  any  course 
which  would  not  expose  him  to  the  most  severe  denunciation. 

Mr.  Tyler  earnestly  and  eloquently  opposed  any  protective 
tariff.  In  glowing  periods  he  depicted  the  abounding  prosperity 
of  the  North,  and  the  dilapidation  and  decay  of  the  South.  '  Tiie 
fact  no  one  could  deny,  that  the  North  was  bounding  forward  in 
the  most  brilliant  career  of  prosperity,  while  the  South  presented 
a  general  aspect  of  paralysis  and  desolation.  ''  The  protective 
tariff,"  said  Mr.  Tyler,  "  is  the  cause  of  our  calamities  and  our  de- 
cay. We  buy  dear,  and  sell  cheap.  That  is  the  simple  secret. 
The  tariff  raises  the  price  of  all  we  buy,  and  diminishes  the  de- 
mands for  our  products  abroad  by  diminishing  the  power  of  foreign 
nations  to  buy  them." 

The  reply  to  this  cannot  be  better  given  than  in  the  words  of 
Mr.  Parton,  in  his  "  Life  of  Andrew  Jackson :  "  ''  The  Southern  sys- 
tem—  be  it  wrong  or  be  it  right,  be  it  wise  or  be  it  unwise  —  is 
one  that  does  not  attract  emigrants ;  and  the  Northern  system 
does.  That  is  the  great  cause.  From  the  hour  when  Columbus 
sprang,  exulting,  upon  these  Western  shores,  the  great  interest  of 
America  has  been  emigration.  That  country  of  the  New  World 
has  prospered  most  which  has  attracted  the  greatest  number  of 
the  best  emigrants  by  affording  them  the  best  chance  to  attain 
the  sole  object  of  emigration,  —  the  improvement  of  their  condition; 
and  that  portion  of  that  country  has  outstripped  the  rest  which 
offered  to  emigrants  the  most  promising  field  of  labor.  For  a  man, 
view  him  in  what  light  you  may,  is  the  most  precious  thing  in  the 
world :  he  is  wealth  in  its  most  concentrated  form.  A  stalwart, 
virtuous,  skilful,  thoughtful  man,  progenitor  of  an  endless  line  of 
such,  planted  in  our  Western  wilds  to  hew  out  home  and  fortune 
with  his  own  glorious  and  beautiful  right  hand  and  heart,  is  worth, 
to  the  State  that  wins  him,  a  thousand  times  his  weight  in  Kohi- 
nor.  Such  have  poured  into  the  Northern  States,  in  an  abounding 
flood,  these  fifty  years.     Behold  what  they  have  wrought ! 

"  Such  emigrants  go  to  the  South  in  inconsiderable  numbers, 
partly  because  from  infancy  they  learn  to  loathe  the  very  name  of 
slavery.  They  sicken  at  the  thought  of  it.  They  shrink  from 
contact  with  it.  They  take  Wesley's  characterization  of  it  in  the 
most  literal  acceptation  of  the  words,  and  esteem  it  the  sum  of  all 
villanies,  —  that  solely  possible  crime  whicli  includi's  in  its  single 


JOHN   TYLER.  281 

self  all  the  wrong  that  man  can  wreak  on  man.  Whether  they  are 
right  or  whether  they  are  wrong  in  so  thinking,  is  not  a  question 
here.  They  think  so  ;  and,  if  they  did  not,  they  would  not  go  in 
great  numbers  to  the  South,  because  it  does  not  afford  to  a  man 
with  six  children  and  a  hundred  dollars  the  immediate  opportuni- 
ties for  profitable  and  congenial  labor  which  the  North  affords. 
On  the  prairies,  in  the  forests  of  the  North,  the  struggling  emi- 
grant finds  himself  surrounded  by  neighbors  whose  condition, 
antecedents,  prospects,  social  standing,  are  all  similar  to  his  own. 
There  is  no  great  proprietor  to  overtop  him.  There  is  no  slave 
with  whom  he  has  to  compete.  He  forgets  that  there  is  any  such 
thing  as  a  graduated  social  scale,  and  feels,  that,  by  virtue  of  his 
manhood  alone,  he  stands  on  a  level  with  the  best." 

It  has  been  well  said,  that  nothing  is  ever  settled  in  this  world 
until  it  is  settled  right.  There  can  be  no  peace,  and  no  abiding 
prosperity,  until  the  brotherhood  of  man  is  recognized.  True 
democracy  demands  impartial  suffrage  and  equal  rights  for  all; 
and,  if  any  thing  be  certain,  this  is  certain,  —  that  true  democracy 
will  never  rest  content  until  this  shall  be  attained.  Whoever, 
therefore,  places  himself  in  opposition  to  this  fundamental  princi- 
ple of  true  democracy,  does  but  perpetuate  conflict,  and  postpone 
the  long-looked-for  hour  when  the  bitter  strife  of  parties  shall 
cease.  It  is  in  vain  for  the  demon  of  aristocracy  and  of  exclusive 
privilege  to  clothe  itself  in  the  garb  of  democracy,  and  assume  its 
sacred  name.  The  masses  cannot  long  be  thus  deceived,  and 
those  defrauded  of  their  rights  will  not  acquiesce  unresistingly. 

It  is  not  slavery  alone  which  saps  the  foundations  of  public 
prosperity :  it  is  any  attempt  to  keep  any  portion  of  the  people 
ignorant  and  degraded,  and  deprived  of  privileges  conferred  upon 
others  no  more  deserving.  This  was  the  political  vice  of  John 
Tyler  and  his  associates.  They  strained  every  nerve  to  keep 
millions  of  their  fellow-countrymen  in  the  South  in  a  state  of  the 
most  abject  servility,  ignorance,  and  degradation  ;  and  then,  as 
they  looked  around  upon  the  general  aspect  of  rags,  impoverish- 
ment, and  degradation  in  the  South,  and  contrasted  it  with  the 
beauty  and  wealth  and  power  of  those  States  in  the  North  where 
■every  man  was  encouraged  to  feel  himself  a  man,  and  to  educate 
to  the  highest  possible  degree  his  children,  and  to  surround  his 
home  with  every  embellishment  which  taste  and  industry  could 
create,  they  refused  to  admit  the  true  cause  for  the  difference. 

36 


"282  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Ill  a  beautiful  strain  of  philosophic  truth,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Dallas 
said  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  a  debate  upon  this  sub- 
ject in  1862,  "The  lights  of  science  and  the  improvements  of  art, 
which  vivify  and  accelerate  elsewhere,  cannot  penetrate,  or,  if 
they  do,  penetrate  with  dilatory  inefficiency,  among  the  operatives 
of  the  South.  They  are  merely  instinctive  and  passive.  While 
the  intellectual  industry  of  other  parts  of  this  country  springs 
elastically  f9rward  at  every  fresh  impulse,  and  manual  labor  is 
propelled  and  redoubled  by  countless  inventions,  machines,  and 
contrivances,  instantly  understood  and  at  once  exercised,  the 
South  remains  stationary,  inaccessible  to  such  encouraging  and 
invigorating  aids.  Nor  is  it  possible  to  be  blind  to  the  moral 
eifects  of  this  species  of  labor  upon  those  freemen  among  whom  it 
exists.  A  disrelish  for  humble  and  hardy  occupation,  a  pride 
adverse  to  drudgery  and  toil,  a  dread  that  to  partake  in  the  em- 
ployments allotted  to  color  may  be  accompanied  also  by  its  degra- 
tion,  are  natural  and  inevitable. 

*'  When,  in  fact,  the  senator  from  South  Carolina  asserts  that 
'  slaves  are  too  improvident,  too  incapable  of  that  minute,  con- 
stant, delicate  attention,  and  that  persevering  industry,  which  are 
essential  to  the  success  of  manufacturing  establishments,'  he  him- 
self admits  the  defect  in  the  condition  of  Southern  labor  by  which 
the  progress  of  his  favorite  section  must  be  retarded.  He  admits 
an  inability  to  keep  pace  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  He  admits  an 
inherent  weakness,  —  a  weakness  neither  engendered  nor  aggra- 
vated by  tlie  tariff." 

These  views,  now  that  slavery  is  dead,  are  as  practically  impor- 
tant as  ever ;  for  they  do  conclusively  show  that  it  is  one  of  the 
first  principles  of  political  economy  that  there  should  not  be  fos- 
tered in  any  community  a  servile  and  degraded  class ;  that  it 
should  be  the  first  endeavor  of  the  State  to  inspire  every  individ- 
ual, without  a  single  exception,  with  the  ambition  to  make  the 
most  of  himself,  intellectually,  physically,  and  morally,  that  he  pos- 
sibly can.  Every  facility  should  be  presented,  which  wisdom  can 
devise,  to  promote  this  elevation  of  the  whole  community.  Every- 
where a  poor,  ignorant,  degraded  family  is  an  element  of  weak- 
ness and  impoverishment.  But  Mr.  Tjder,  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  his  career,  was  the  earnest  advocate  of  slavery,  —  of  its 
perpetuation  and  extension. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1845,  he  retired  from  the  harassments  of 


JOHN    TYLER.  283 

office,  to  the  regret  of  neither  party,  and  probably  to  his  own  un- 
speakable relief.  His  first  wife,  Miss  Letitia  Christian,  died  in 
Washington  in  1842;  and  in  June,  1844,  President  Tyler  was  again 
married,  at  New  York,  to  Miss  Julia  Gardiner,  a  young  lady  of 
many  personal  and  intellectual  accomplishments. 

The  remainder  of  his  days  Mr.  Tyler  passed  mainly  in  retirement 
at  his  beautiful  home, —  Sherwood  Forest,  Charles-city  County, 
Va.  A  polished  gentleman  in  his  manners,  richly  furnished  with 
information  from  books  and  experience  in  the  world,  and  pos- 
sessing brilliant  powers  of  conversation,  his  family  circle  was 
the  scene  of  unusual  attractions.  With  sufficient  means  for  the 
exercise  of  a  generous  hospitality,  he  might  have  enjoyed  a  serene 
old  age  with  the  few  friends  who  gathered  around  him,  were  it 
not  for  the  storms  of  civil  war  which  his  own  principles  and  policy 
had  helped  to  introduce. 

When  the  Great  Rebellion  rose,  which  the  State-rights  and  nulli- 
fying doctrines  of  Mr.  John  C.  Calhoun  had  inaugurated,  President 
Tyler  renounced  his  allegiance  to  the  United  States,  and  joined 
the  Confederates.  He  was  chosen  a  member  of  their  Congress  ;  and 
while  engaged  in  active  measures  to  destroy,  by  force  of  arms, 
the  Government  over  which  he  had  once  presided,  he  was  taken 
sick,  and,  after  a  short  illness,  died.  There  were  but  few  to  weep 
over  his  grave,  excepting  his  own  family,  to  whom  he  was  much 
endeared,  and  the  limited  circle  of  his  personal  friends.  His  last 
hours  must  have  been  gloomy;  for  he  could  not  conceal  from  him- 
self that  the  doctrines  which  he  had  advocated  were  imperilling 
the  very  existence  of  the  nation.  Unfortunately  for  his  memory, 
the  name  of  John  Tyler  must  forever  be  associated  with  all  the 
misery  and  crime  of  that  terrible  Rebellion  whose  cause  he  openly 
espoused.  It  is  with  sorrow  that  history  records  that  a  President 
of  the  United  States  died  while  defending  the  flag  of  rebellion, 
which  was  arrayed  in  deadly  warfare  against  that  national  banner 
which  he  had  so  often  sworn  to  protect. 


CHAPTER  XI.  •    . 

JAMES    KNOX    POLK. 

Ancestry  of  Mr.  Polk.  —  His  Early  Distinction.  —  His  Success  as  a  Lawyer.  —  Political  Life 

—  Long  Service  in  Congress.  —  Speaker  in   the    House.  —  Governor  of  Tennessee.  — 
Anecdote.  —  Political   Views.  —  Texas    Annexation.  —  Candidate  for  the  Presidency. 

—  Mexican  War.  —  Its  Object  and  Results.  —  Retirement.  —  Sickness.  —  Death. 

Near  the  soiith-westerD  frontier  of  North  Carolina,  on  the  east- 
ern banks  of  the  Catawba,  there  is  a    region    now    called   the 


KESIDEXCE   OF   JAMES    K.   POLK. 


County  of  Mecklenburg.  In  this  remote,  almost  unexplored 
wilderness,  a  small  settlement  was  commenced  by  the  Scotch- 
Irish  in  the  year  1735.  Among  these  settlers,  there  were  two 
brothers  by  the  name  of  Polk.     Both  of  them  were  men  of  much 

284 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK.  285 

excellence  of  character  and  of  extensive  influence.  Early  in  the 
spring  of  1775,  news  reached  those  distant  settlers  beneath  the 
primeval  forest  of  the  atrocities  which  the  crown  of  Great  Britain 
was  perpetrating  against  the  liberties  of  this  country,  in  Massa- 
chusetts. There  were  several  public  meetings  held  to  discuss 
these  wrongs. 

At  length,  Col.  Thomas  Polk,  the  elder  of  these  brothers,  "  well 
known  and  well  acquainted  in  the  surrounding  counties,  a  man 
of  great  excellence  and  merited  popularity,"  was  empowered  to 
call  a  convention  of  the  representatives  of  the  people.  Col.  Polk 
issued  his  summons ;  and  there  was  a  convention  in  Charlotte,  the 
shire-town  of  the  county,  held  on  the  19th  of  May,  1775.  About 
forty  of  the  principal  citizens  of  the  county  of  Mecklenburg  were 
present  as  delegates.  At  this  meeting,  the  announcement  was 
made,  that  the  first  blood  of  the  Revolution  had  been  shed  in 
Lexington,  Mass.  The  excitement  was  intense.  Anxious  delib- 
erations were  protracted  late  into  the  night,  and  resumed  the 
next  morning.  People  were,  in  the  mean  time,  rapidly  gathering 
in  large  numbers.  Resolutions  were  at  length  adopted  unani- 
mously, which  were  read  from  the  court-house  steps  by  Col. 
Polk,  declaring  that  "we,  the  citizens  of  Mecklenburg  County, 
do  hereby  dissolve  the  political  bands  which  have  connected  us 
to  the  mother-country,  and  hereby  absolve  ourselves  from  all  alle- 
giance to  the  British  crown ;  and  that  we  do  hereby  declare  our- 
selves a  free  and  independent  people." 

This  heroic  and  extraordinary  declaration  of  independence  was 
unquestionably  the  first  that  was  made.  Col.  Thomas  Polk,  and 
his  brother  Ezekiel,  who  resided  then  across  the  border,  in  South 
Carolina,  were  among  the  most  prominent  men  in  this  movement. 
In  the  course  of  Itie  war  which  ensued,  Lord  Cornwallis  estab- 
lished his  headquarters  at  Charlotte,  which  he  called  the  hot-bed 
of  rebellion,  and  the  hornet's  nest.  But  little  more  is  knowii  re- 
specting Ezekiel  Polk,  who  was  the  grandfather  of  James  Knox 
Polk,  the  eleventh  President  of  the  United  States.  He  left  a 
son,  Samuel,  who  married  Jane  Knox.  Samuel  Polk  was  a  plain, 
unpretending  farmer.  James  was  the  eldest  son  of  a  family  of  six 
sons  and  four  daughters.  He  was  born  in  Mecklenburg  County, 
N.C.,  on  the  2d  of  November,  1795. 

In  the  year  1806,  with  his  wife  and  children,  and  soon  after 
followed  by  most  of  the  members  of  the  Polk  family,  Samuel  Polk 


286  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

emigrated  some  two  or  three  hundred  miles  farther  west  to  the 
rich  valley  of  the  Duck  River.  Here  in  the  midst  of  the  wilder- 
ness, in  a  region  which  was  subsequently  called  Maury  County, 
they  reared  their  log  huts,  and  established  their  new  home.  In 
the  hard  toil  of  a  new  farm  in  the  wilderness,  James  K.  Polk 
spent  the  early  years  of  his  childhood  and  his  youth.  His  father, 
adding  the  pursuits  of  a  surveyor  to  that  of  a  farmer,  gradually 
increased  in  wealth  until  he  became  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
region.  His  mother  was  a  superior  woman,  of  strong  common 
sense  and  earnest  piety.  Young  James  often  accompanied  his 
father  on  his  surveying  tours,  and  was  frequently  absent  from 
home  for  weeks  together,  climbing  the  mountains,  threading  the 
defiles,  exposed  to  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  weather,  and  not  a 
little  in  peril  from  hostile  Indians.  To  a  boy  of  reflective  spirit, 
there  is  much  in  such  a  life  to  bring  out  all  there  is  noble  in  his 
nature. 

Very  early  in  life,  James  developed  a  taste  for  reading,  and 
expressed  the  strongest  desire  to  obtain  a  liberal  education.  His 
mother's  training  had  rendered  him  methodical  in  his  habits,  had 
taught  him  punctuality  and  industry,  and  had  inspired  him  with 
lofty  principles  of  morality.  James,  in  the  common  schools, 
rapidly  became  a  proficient  in  all  the  common  branches  of  an  Eng- 
lish education.  His  health  was  frail ;  and  his  father,  fearing  that 
he  might  not  be  able  to  endure  a  sedentary  life,  got  a  situation 
for  him  behind  the  counter,  hoping  to  fit  him  for  commercial 
pursuits. 

This  was  to  James  a  bitter  disappointment.  He  had  no  taste 
for  these  duties,  and  his  daily  tasks  were  irksome  in  the  extreme. 
He  remained  in  this  uncongenial  occupation  but  a  few  weeks, 
when,  at  his  earnest  solicitation,  his  father  remov^ed  him,  and  made 
arrangements  for  him  to  prosecute  his  studies.  Soon  after,  he 
sent  him  to  Murfreesborough  Academy.  This  was  in  1813.  With 
ardor  which  could  scarcely  be  surpassed,  he  pressed  forward  in 
his  studies,  and  in  less  than  two  and  a  half  years,  in  the  autumn 
of  1815,  entered  the  sophomore  class  in  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  at  Chapel  Hill.  Here  he  was  one  of  the  most  exemplary 
of  scholars,  so  punctual  in  every  exercise,  never  allowing  himself 
to  be  absent  from  a  recitation  or  a  religious  service,  that  one  of 
the  wags  of  college,  when  he  wished  to  aver  the  absolute  cer- 
tainty of  any  thing,  was  in  the  habit  of  saying,  "  It  is  as  certain 
as  that  Polk  will  get  up  at  the  first  call." 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK.  287 

To  every  branch  of  a  solid  and  an  accomplished  education  he 
alike  devoted  his  energies.  He  graduated  in  1818  with  the  high- 
est honors,  being  deemed  the  best  scholar  of  his  class,  both  in 
mathematics  and  the  classics.  He  was  then  twenty-three  years 
of  age.  Mr.  Polk's  health  was  at  that  time  much  impaired  by  the 
assiduity  with  which  he  had  prosecuted  his  studies.  After  a 
short  season  of  relaxation,  he  went  to  Nashville,  and  entered  the 
office  of  Felix  Grundy  to  study  law.  Mr.  G-rundy  was  a  man  of 
national  fame,  not  only  standing  at  the  head  of  the  bar  in  Nash- 
ville, but  having  also  distinguished  himself  on  the  floor  of  Con- 
gress. Here  Mr.  Polk  renewed  his  acquaintance  with  Andrew 
Jackson,  who  resided  on  his  plantation,  the  Hermitage,  but  a 
ffc'W  miles  from  Nashville.  They  had  probably  been  slightly  ac- 
quainted before.  When  Mrs.  Jackson,  with  her  two  orphan  boys, 
fled  before  the  army  of  Cornwallis,  she  took  refuge  in  Mecklen- 
burg County,  and  for  some  time  resided  with  the  neighbors  of 
Mr.  Polk's  father. 

As  soon  as  he  had  finished  his  legal  studies,  and  been  admitted 
to  the  bar,  he  returned  to  Columbia,  the  shire-town  of  Maury 
County,  and  opened  an  office.  His  success  was  rapid.  Very  sel- 
dom has  any  young  man  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law  more 
thoroughly  prepared  to  meet  all  of  its  responsibilities.  With  rich 
stores  of  information,  all  his  faculties  well  disciplined,  and  with 
habits  of  close  and  accurate  reasoning,  he  rapidly  gained  business, 
and  won  fame. 

Mr.  Polk's  father  was  a  Jeffersonian  Republican,  and  James  K. 
Polk  ever  adhered  to  the  same  political  faith.  He  was  a  popular 
public  speaker,  and  was  constantly  called  upon  to  address  the 
meetings  of  his  party  friends.  His  skill  as  a  speaker  was  such, 
that  he  was  popularly  called  the  Napoleon  of  the  stump.  He  was 
a  man  of  unblemished  morals,  genial  and  courteous  in  his  bear- 
ing, and  with  that  sympathetic  nature  in  the  joys  and  griefs  of 
others  which  ever  gave  him  troops  of  friends.  There  is  scarcely 
any  investment  which  a  man  can  make  in  this  world  so  profitable 
as  pleasant  words  and  friendly  smiles,  provided  always  that  those 
words  and  smiles  come  honestly  from  the  heart.  In  1823,  Mr. 
Polk  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee.  Here  he  gave 
his  strong  influence  towards  the  election  of  his  friend,  Andrew 
Jackson,  to  the  presidency  of  the  United  States.  He  also  pro- 
cured  the  passage  of  a  law  designed  to  prevent  duelling.      From 


288  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

principle,  he  was  utterly  opposed  to  the  practice  ;  and  it  required 
no  little  moral  courage  for  one,  in  those  rude  times  and  regions, 
to  attempt  the  abrogation  of  that  so-called  '•'  code  of  honor,"  obedi- 
ence to  which  was  deemed  essential  to  the  character  of  a  chival- 
ric  gentleman. 

Mr,  Polk,  as  a  "  strict  constructionist,"  did  not  think  that  the 
Constitution  empowered  the  General  Government  to  carry  on  a 
system  of  internal  improvements  in  the  States ;  but,  with  Mr. 
Monroe,  he  deemed  it  important  that  the  Government  should  have 
that  power,  and  wished  to  have  the  Constitution  amended  that  it 
might  be  conferred.  Subsequently,  however,  with  most  of  the 
Southern  gentlemen,  he  became  alarmed  lest  the  General  Govern- 
ment should  become  so  strong  as  to  undertake  to  interfere  with 
slavery.  He  therefore  gave  all  his  influence  to  strengthen  the 
State  governments,  and  to  check  the  growth  of  the  central 
power. 

In  January,  1824,  Mr.  Polk  married  Miss  Sarah  Childress  of 
Rutherford  County,  Tenn.  His  bride  was  altogether  worthy 
of  him,  —  a  lady  of  beauty  and  of  culture.  Had  some  one  then 
whispered  to  him  that  he  was  destined  to  become  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  he  should  select  for  his  companion  one  who 
would  adorn  that  distinguished  station,  he  could  not  have  made  a 
more  fitting  choice.  The  following  anecdote  is  related  of  Mrs. 
Polk,  when,  in  1848,  she  was  lady  of  the  White  House.  It  should 
be  remembered  that  Mr.  Polk  was  a  Democrat,  and  Mr.  Clay  a 
Whig,  and  that  they  had  been  rival  candidates  for  the  presidency. 
There  was  quite  a  brilliant  dinner-party  at  the  President's. 
Henry  Clay,  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished  guests,  was  honored 
with  a  seat  near  Mrs.  Polk,  who  as  usual,  by  her  courteous  and 
affable  manner,  won  the  admiration  of  all  her  guests. 

During  the  entertainment,  Mr.  Clay  turned  to  her,  and  said,  in 
those  winning  tones  so  peculiar  to  him,  — 

''  Madam,  I  must  say,  that  in  my  travels,  wherever  I  have  been, 
in  all  companies  and  among  all  parties,  I  have  heard  but  one  opin- 
ion of  you.  All  agree  in  commending,  in  the  highest  terms,  your 
excellent  administration  of  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  White 
House.  But,"  continued  he,  looking  towards  her  husband,  '^  as 
for  that  young  gentleman  there,  I  cannot  say  as  much.  There  is 
some  little  difference  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  policy  of  his 
course." 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK.  289 

"  Indeed,"  said  Mrs.  Polk,  "  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  mij  adminis- 
tration is  popular ;  and,  in  return  for  your  compliment,  I  will 
say,  that,  if  the  country  should  elect  a  Whig  next  fall,  I  know  of 
no  one  whose  elevation  would  please  me  more  than  that  of  Henry 
Clay.  And  I  will  assure  you  of  one  thing :  if  you  do  have  occa- 
sion to  occupy  the  White  House  on  the  4th  of  March  next,  it 
shall  be  surrendered  to  you  in  perfect  order  from  garret  to 
cellar." 

"  Thank  you,  thank  you  !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Clay  :  ''  I  am  certain 
that "  —  No  more  could  be  heard,  such  a  burst  of  laughter  fol- 
lowed Mrs.  Polk's  happy  repartee.  In  the  fall  of  1825,  Mr.  Polk 
was  chosen  a  member  of  Congress.  The  satisfaction  which  he 
gave  to  his  constituents  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  for 
fourteen  successive  years,  until  1839,  he  was  continued  in  that 
office.  He  then  voluntarily  withdrew,  only  that  he  might  accept 
the  gubernatorial  chair  of  his  native  State.  In  Congress  he  was 
a  laborious  member,  a  frequent  and  a  popular  speaker.  He 
was  always  in  his  seat,  always  courteous  ;  and,  whenever  he  spoke, 
it  was  always  to  the  point,  and  without  any  ambitious  rhetorical 
display.  Mr.  Polk  was  the  warm  friend  of  Gen.  Jackson,  who 
had  been  defeated  in  the  electoral  contest  by  John  Quincy 
Adams.  This  latter  gentleman  had  just  taken  his  seat  in  the 
presidential  chair  when  Mr.  Polk  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  He  immediately  united  himself  with  the  oppo- 
nents of  Mr.  Adams,  and  was  soon  regarded  as  the  leader  of  the 
Jackson  party  in  the  House. 

The  four  years  of  Mr.  Adams's  administration  passed  away,  and 
Gen.  Jackson  took  the  presidential  chair.  Mr.  Polk  had  now  be- 
come a  man  of  great  influence  in  Congress,  and  was  chairman  of 
its  most  important  committee,  —  that  of  Ways  and  Means.  Elo- 
quently he  sustained  Gen.  Jackson  in  all  of  his  measures,  —  in  his 
hostility  to  internal  improvements,  to  the  bank,  to  the  tariff.  The 
eight  years  of  Gen.  Jackson's  administration  ended,  and  the 
powers  he  had  wielded  passed  into  the  hands  of  Martin  Van 
Buren ;  and  still  Mr.  Polk  remained  in  the  House,  the  advocate  of 
that  type  of  Democracy  which  those  distinguished  men  upheld. 

During  five  sessions  of  Congress,  Mr.  Polk  was  Speaker  of  the 
House.  Strong  passions  were  roused,  and  stormy  scenes  were 
witnessed  ;  but  Mr.  Polk  performed  his  arduous  duties  to  very 
general  satisfaction,  and  a  unanimous  vote  of  thanks  to  him  was 

37 


290.  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

passed  by  the  House  as  he  withdrew  on  the  4th  of  March,  1839. 
In  his  closing  address,  he  said,  — 

"  When  I  look  back  to  the  period  when  I  first  took  my  seat  in 
this  House,  and  then  look  around  me  for  those  who  were  at  that 
time  my  associates  here,  I  find  but  few,  very  few,  remaining. 
But  five  members  who  were  here  with  me  fourteen  years  ago 
continue  to  be  members  of  this  body.  My  service  here  has  been 
constant  and  laborious.  I  can  perhaps  say  what  few  others,  if 
any,  can,  —  that  I  have  not  failed  to  attend  the  daily  sittings  of  this 
House  a  single  day  since  I  have  been  a  member  of  it,  save  on  a 
single  occasion,  when  prevented  for  a  short  time  by  indispo- 
sition. In  my  intercourse  with  the  members  of  this  body,  when  I 
occupied  a  place  upon  the  floor,  though  occasionally  engaged  in 
debates  upon  interesting  public  questions  and  of  an  exciting 
character,  it  is  a  source  of  unmingled  gratification  to  me  to  recur 
to  the  fact,  that  on  no  occasion  was  there  the  slightest  personal 
or  unpleasant  collision  with  any  of  its  members." 

In  accordance  with  Southern  usage,  Mr.  Polk,  as  candidate  for 
governor,  canvassed  the  State.  He  was  elected  by  a  large  ma- 
jority, and  on  the  14th  of  October,  1839,  took  the  oath  of  office  at 
Nashville.  In  1841,  his  term  of  office  expired,  and  he  was  again 
the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party.  But,  in  the  mean  time,  a 
wonderful  political  revolution  had  swept  over  the  whole  country. 
Martin  Van  Buren  had  lost  his  re-election,  and  Gen.  Harrison  had 
been  called  triumphantly  to  the  presidential  chair.  In  Tennessee, 
the  Whig  ticket  had  been  carried  by  over  twelve  thousand  ma- 
jority. Under  these  circumstances,  the  success  of  Mr.  Polk  was 
hopeless.  Still  he  canvassed  the  State  with  his  Whig  competitor, 
Mr.  Jones,  travelling  in  the  most  friendly  manner  together,  often 
in  the  same  carriage,  and,  it  is  said,  at  one  time  sleeping  in  the 
same  bed.  Mr.  Jones  obtained  the  election  by  three  thousand 
majority.  Again,  in  1843,  the  same  gentlemen  were  competitors 
for  the  governorship,  and  again  Mr.  Polk  was  defeated. 

And  now  the  question  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  our  country 
agitated  fearfully  the  whole  laud.  It  was  a  plan  which  originated 
with  the  advocates  of  slavery,  that  they  might  get  territory  to  cut 
up  into  slave  States,  to  counterbalance  the  free  States  which  were 
being  formed  in  the  North-west.  Texas  was  a  province  of  Mexico. 
We  were  on  friendly  terms  with  that  puny  and  distracted  republic, 
and  could  find  no  plausible  occasion  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  it.    The 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK.  29i 

territory  we  coveted  was  in  extent  equal  to  the  whole  empire  of 
France,  and  could  be  divided  into  six  first-class  States.  The  fol- 
lowing plan  was  adopted  to  gain  the  prize  :  — 

There  was  a  wild,  eccentric  frontiersman,  by  the  nime  of  Sam 
Houston,  who  had  abandoned  civilization,  and  for  six  years  had 
lived  among  the  Indians,  adopting  their  habits.  He  was  a  man 
of  very  considerable  native  ability.  In  his  character,  there  was  a 
singular  blending  of  good  and  bad  qualities.  He  had  so  far  com- 
mended himself  to  the  Cherokee  Indians,  that  they  had  chosen  him 
as  one  of  their  chiefs.  This  man  gathered  a  pretty  numerous 
band  of  lawless  adventurers,  and  entered  Texas  to  wrest  it  from 
Mexico  as  a  private  speculation.  The  plan  was  distinctly  an- 
nounced ;  and  from  all  parts  of  the  country  there  was  a  very  ex- 
tensive emigration  to  those  wide  and  fertile  plains  of  those  who 
were  in  sympathy  with  the  movement.  They  went  strongly 
armed,  and  with  abundant  supplies  furnished  them  from  the  South. 

These  men,  settlers  in  Texas,  in  1836  called  a  convention, 
issued  a  declaration  of  independence,  formed  a  constitution  estab- 
lishing perpetual  slavery,  and  chose  their  intrepid  leader,  Sam 
Houston,  their  governor.  A  short,  bloody,  merciless  war  ensued. 
The  Mexicans  were  utterly  repulsed.  Population  from  the  United 
States  rapidly  flowed  in.  It  was  manifest  to  every  one  that 
Mexico  could  never  regain  her  lost  province.  The  first  step  was 
triumphantly  accomplished.  A  few  months  after  this,  the  second 
step  was  taken,  and  Congress  acknowledged  the  independence  of 
Texas.  The  Texans  then  sent  an  envoy  to  Washington,  proposing 
the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  American  Union. 

The  friends  of  slavery  generally  were  in  favor  of  the  movement. 
Mr.  Benton  said  that  nine  slave  States  could  be  carved  out  of  the 
majestic  domain,  each  nearly  equal  to  the  State  of  New  York. 
Most  of  the  foes  of  slavery  extension  were  opposed  to  the  measure 
of  annexation.     Mr.  Webster  said,  — 

''  Slavery  in  this  country  stands  where  the  Constitution  loft  it. 
I  have  taken  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution,  and  I  mean  to 
abide  by  it.  I  shall  do  nothing  to  carry  the  power  of  the  General 
Government  within  the  just  bounds  of  the  States.  I  shall  do 
nothing  to  interfere  with  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  South, 
and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  have  no  riglit  to  interfere 
therewith.  But  that  is  a  very  different  thing  from  not  interfering 
to  prevent  the  extension  of  slavery  by  adding   a   large   slave 


292  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

country  to  this.  Texas  is  likely  to  be  a  slaveholding  country ; 
and  I  frankly  avow  my  unwillingness  to  do  any  thing  that  shall 
extend  the  slavery  of  the  African  race  on  this  continent,  or  add 
another  slaveholding  State  to  this  Union." 

Thus  the  question  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  became  national. 
^Ir.  Polk,  as  the  avowed  champion  of  annexation,  became  the 
presidential  candidate  of  the  proslavery  wing  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  Dallas  their  candidate  for  the  vice-presidency.  He 
was  elected  by  a  majority,  in  the  popular  vote,  of  about  forty 
thousand.  In  January,  1845,  he  left  his  home  in  Tennessee  for 
Washington,  having  first  had  a  long  private  interview  with  Gen. 
Jackson  at  the  Hermitage.  As  he  was  ascending  the  Ohio  River 
in  a  steamboat  at  one  of  the  landings,  a  plain,  farmer-like  looking 
man,  in  his  working-dress,  pressed  through  the  crowd,  and,  taking 
Mr.  Polk's  hand,  said, — 

"How  do  you  do,  colonel?  I  am  glad  to  see  you.  I  am  a 
strong  Democrat,  and  did  all  I  could  for  you.  I  am  the  father  of 
twenty-six  children,  who  were  all  for  Polk,  Dallas,  and  Texas.'''' 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1845,  Mr.  Pulk  was  inaugurated  President 
of  the  United  States.  The  verdict  of  the  country  in  favor  of  an- 
nexation exerted  its  influence  upon  Congress ;  and  the  last  act  of 
the  administration  of  President  Tyler  was  to  affix  his  signature  to 
a  joint  resolution  of  Congress,  passed  on  the  3d  of  March,  approv- 
ing of  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  American  Union.  As 
Mexico  still  claimed  Texas  as  one  of  her  provinces,  the  Mexican 
minister,  Almonte,  immediately  demanded  his  passports,  and  left 
the  country,  declaring  the  act  of  annexation  to  be  an  act  hostile 
to  Mexico.  But  Mexico  was  poor,  feeble,  and  distracted,  —  a  very 
feeble  foe  for  this  great  republic  to  encounter.  It  would  have 
been  folly  for  her  to  attempt  to  strike  a  blow.  She  could  only 
protest. 

In  his  first  message.  President  Polk  urged  that  Texas  should 
immediately,  by  act  of  Congress,  be  received  into  the  Union  on 
the  same  footing  with  the  other  States.  In  the  mean  time.  Gen. 
Taylor  was  sent  with  an  army  into  Texas  to  hold  the  country.  He 
was  sent  first  to  the  Nueces,  which  the  Mexicans  said  was  the 
western  boundary  of  Texas.  Then  he  was  sent  nearly  two  hun- 
dred miles  farther  west,  to  the  Rio  Grande,  where  he  erected 
batteries  which  commanded  the  Mexican  city  of  Matamoras,  which 
was  situated  on  the  western  banks. 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK.  293 

The  anticipated  collision  soon  took  place.  We  had  pushed  for- 
ward our  army  nearly  two  hundred  miles,  to  the  extreme  western 
frontier  of  the  disputed  territory;  had  erected  our  batteries  so  as 
to  command  the  Mexican  city  of  Matamoras,  on  the  opposite  banks  ; 
had  placed  our  trpops  in  such  a  position,  that  lawless  violence  was 
sure  to  provoke  retaliation ;  and  then,  as  soon  as  the  Mexican 
troops  crossed  the  river,  and  a  conflict  ensued,  President  Polk 
announced  to  the  country  that  war  with  Mexico  existed. 

"  Now,  Mexico,"  he  said,  "  has  passed  the  boundary  of  the 
United  States,  has  invaded  our  territory,  and  shed  American  blood 
on  American  soil.  She  has  proclaimed  that  hostilities  have  com- 
menced, and  that  the  two  nations  are  at  war.  As  war  exists,  not- 
withstanding our  efforts  to  avoid  it,  —  exists  by  the  act  of  Mexico 
herself,  —  we  are  called  upon  by  every  consideration  of  duty  and 
patriotism  to  vindicate  with  decision  the  honor,  rights,  and  inter- 
ests of  our  country." 

The  war  was  pushed  forward  by  Mr.  Polk's  administration  with 
great  vigor.  Gen.  Taylor,  whose  army  was  first  called  one  of 
"observation,"  then  of"  occupation,"  then  of"  invasion,"  was  sent 
forward  to  Monterey.  The  feeble  Mexicans,  in  every  encounter, 
were  hopelessly  and  awfully  slaughtered.  The  day  of  judgment 
alone  can  reveal  the  misery  which  was  caused.  It  was  by  the  in- 
genuity of  Mr.  Polk's  administration  that  the  war  was  brought  on. 
Mr.  Webster  said, — 

"  I  believe,  that,  if  the  question  had  been  put  to  Congress 
before  the  march  of  the  armies  and  their  actual  conflict,  not  ten 
votes  could  have  been  obtained  in  either  House  for  the  war  with 
Mexico  under  the  existing  state  of  things." 

"  To  the  victors  belong  the  spoils."  Mexico  was  prostrate 
before  us.  Her  capital  was  in  our  hands.  We  now  consented  to 
peace  upon  the  condition  that  Mexico  should  surrender  to  us,  in 
addition  to  Texas,  all  of  New  Mexico,  and  all  of  Upper  and  Lower 
California.  This  new  demand  embraced,  exclusive  of  Texas,  eight 
hundred  thousand  square  miles.  This  was  an  extent  of  territory 
equal  to  nine  States  of  the  size  of  New  York.  Thus  slavery  was 
securing  eighteen  majestic  States  to  be  added  to  the  Union. 
There  were  some  Americans  who  thought  this  all  right:  there 
were  others  who  thought  it  all  wrong. 

Mr.  Polk's  administration  called  for  a  grant  of  three  millions  of 
dollars,  to  be  judiciously  expended  among  the  Mexicans  to  induce 


294  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

them  voluntarily  to  make  this  surrender.  There  was  a  split  in 
the  Democratic  party ;  and  some  of  the  Northern  Democrats  suc- 
ceeded in  attaching  to  this  appropriation  what  was  called  the 
"  Wilmot  Proviso,"  in  these  words  :  — 

"  Provided  always  that  there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  invol- 
untary servitude  in  any  territory  on  the  continent  of  America 
which  shall  hereafter  be  acquired  or  annexed  to  the  United  States 
by  virtue  of  this  appropriation,  or  in  any  other  manner  whatso- 
ever, except  for  crimes  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted." 

This  was  called  also  the  Thomas  Jefferson  Proviso,  as  its  lan- 
guage was  copied  from  the  ordinance  originally  draughted  by  him 
for  the  government  of  the  North-western  Territory.  This  restric- 
tion struck  Mr.  Polk  and  his  friends  with  consternation.  They 
did  not  wish  to  annex  one  single  acre  more  of  land,  unless  it  could 
add  to  the  area  of  slavery.  The  excitement  which  pervaded  the 
Southern  mind  was  violent  in  the  extreme.  Passionate  speeches 
were  made.  Fiery  resolutions  were  draughted  by  legislatures  of 
the  slaveholding  States.  The  "  dissolution  of  the  Union "  was 
threatened.  Under  the  influence  of  the  threat,  the  proviso  was 
reconsidered  and  rejected. 

At  last,  peace  was  made.  We  had  wrested  from  Mexico  terri- 
tory equal,  it  has  been  estimated,  to  four  times  the  empire  of 
France,  and  five  times  that  of  Spain.  In  the  prosecution  of  this 
war,  we  expended  twenty  thousand  lives,  and  more  than  a  hundred 
million  of  dollars.  Of  this  money,  fifteen  millions  were  paid  to 
Mexico. 

"  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way 
His  wonders  to  perform." 

Scarcely  twenty  years  elapsed  ere  the  whole  of  this  vast  region 
was  consecrated  to  freedom.  Gold  was  discovered  in  California. 
Northern  emigrants  rushed  to  gather  it,  carrying  with  them 
Northern  love  of  liberty ;  and  California  became  a  free  State.  Mr. 
Polk,  highly  gratified  with  his  success,  —  for  he  had  no  doubt  that 
the  whole  region  was  to  be  consecrated  to  slavery,  —  presented  the 
treaty  to  the  Senate  for  its  ratification  on  the  10th  of  March,  1848. 

Justice  to  Mr.  Polk's  memory  requires  that  his  view  of  the 
righteousness  and  expediency  of  the  war  with  Mexico  should  be 
given.  While  no  one  will  dissent  from  the  facts  which  have 
already  been  presented,  there  are  many  who  will  assert  that  the 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK.  295 

reasons  which  Mr.  Polk  urges  in  the  following  sentences  were 
not  the  true  causes  of  the  war.  In  his  second  Annual  Message, 
December,  1846,  he  says, — 

"  The  existing  war  with  Mexico  was  neither  provoked  nor  de- 
sired by  the  United  States  :  on  the  contrary,  all  honorable  means 
were  resorted  to  to  avoid  it.  After  years  of  endurance  of  aggra- 
vated and  unredressed  wrongs  on  our  part,  Mexico,  in  violation 
of  solemn  treaty  stipulations,  and  of  every  principle  of  justice 
recognized  by  civilized  nations,  commenced  hostilities,  and  thus, 
by  her  own  act,  forced  the  war  upon  us.  Long  before  the  advance 
of  our  army  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande,  we  had  ample 
cause  of  war  against  Mexico.  The  war  has  been  represented  as 
unjust  and  unnecessary ;  as  one  of  aggression,  on  our  part,  on  a 
weak  and  injured  enemy.  Such  erroneous  views,  though  enter- 
tained but  by  a  few,  have  been  widely  and  extensively  circulated, 
not  only  at  home,  but  have  been  spread  throughout  Mexico  and 
the  whole  world. 

"  The  wrongs  which  we  have  suflfered  from  Mexico  almost  ever 
since  she  became  an  independent  power,  and  the  patient  endur- 
ance with  which  we  have  borne  them,  are  without  a  parallel  in 
the  history  of  modern  civilized  nations.  Scarcely  had  Mexico 
achieved  her  independence,  when  she  commenced  the  system  of 
insult  and  spoliation  which  she  has  ever  since  pursued.  Our 
citizens,  engaged  in  lawful  commerce,  were  imprisoned,  their 
vessels  seized,  and  our  flag  insulted  in  her  ports.  If  money  was 
wanted,  the  lawless  seizure  and  confiscation  of  our  merchant- 
vessels  and  their  cargoes  was  a  ready  resource ;  and  if,  to  accom- 
plish their  purposes,  it  became  necessary  to  imprison  the  owners, 
captain,  and  crew,  it  was  done.  Rulers  superseded  rulers  in 
Mexico  in  rapid  succession ;  but  still  there  was  no  change  in  this 
system  of  depredation.  The  Government  of  the  United  States 
made  repeated  reclamations  on  behalf  of  its  citizens ;  but  these 
were  answered  by  the  perpetration  of  new  outrages."  In  this 
general  strain  of  remark  he  continues  through  several  closely 
printed  pages,  and  then  says,  "  Such  is  the  history  of  the  wrongs 
which  we  have  suffered  and  patiently  endured  from  Mexico 
through  a  long  series  of  years." 

"The  annexation  of  Texas,"  he  continues,  "constituted  no  just 
cause  of  offence  to  Mexico."  After  giving  a  brief  description  of 
the  previous  history  of  Texas,  and  the  nature  of  its  union  with 


296  LIVES  OF  TEE  PRESIDENTS. 

Mexico,  as  one  of  its  confederate  States,  he  says,  "  Emigrants  from 
foreign  countries  were  invited  by  the  colonization-laws  of  the 
State  and  of  the  Federal  Government  to  settle  in  Texas.  This 
invitation  was  accepted  by  many  of  our  citizens,  in  the  full  faith, 
that,  in  their  new  home,  they  would  be  governed  by  laws  enacted 
by  representatives  elected  by  themselves;  and  that  their  lives, 
liberty,  and  property  would  be  protected  by  constitutional  guar- 
anties similar  to  those  which  existed  in  the  republic  they  had 
left..  Under  a  government  thus  organized,  they  continued  until 
the  year  1835,  when  a  military  revolution  broke  out  in  the  city 
of  Mexico,  which  entirely  subverted  the  Federal  and  State  con- 
stitutions, and  placed  a  military  dictator  at  the  head  of  the  gov- 
ernment. 

''  The  people  of  Texas  were  unwilling  to  submit  to  this  usurpa- 
tion. Resistance  to  such  tyranny  became  a  high  duty.  The 
people  of  Texas  flew  to  arms.  They  elected  members  to  a  con- 
vention, who,  in  the  month  of  March,  1836,  issued  a  formal  decla- 
ration, that  their  '  political  connection  with  the  Mexican  nation  has 
forever  ended,  and  that  the  people  of  Texas  do  now  constitute  a 
free,  sovereign,  and  independent  republic' "' 

He  then  gives  an  account  of  the  unsuccessful  attempts  of 
Mexico,  by  her  armies,  to  conquer  and  reclaim  her  lost  territory. 
"  Upon  this  plain  statement  of  facts,"  he  continues,  '^  it  is  absurd 
for  Mexico  to  allege  that  Texas  is  still  a  part  of  her  territory." 

"  But  there  are  those,"  he  adds,  "  who,  conceding  all  this  to  be 
true,  assume  the  ground,  that  the  true  western  boundary  of  Texas 
is  the  Nueces,  instead  of  the  Rio  Grande ;  and  that,  therefore,  in 
marching  our  army  to  the  east  bank  of  the  latter  river,  we  passed 
the  Texan  line,  and  invaded  the  territory  of  Mexico."  His  expla- 
nation of  this  is  too  long  and  labored  to  be  inserted  here.  The 
substance  is,  that  the  Texans  claimed  the  Rio  Grande  as  their 
boundary ;  that  they  had  conquered  it  by  the  sword ;  that,  as 
conquerors,  they  had  a  right  to  it;  and  that  the  United-States 
Government,  having  annexed  Texas  to  the  Union,  was  under 
every  moral  obligation  to  defend  the  boundaries  which  the  Texans 
claimed. 

This  defence  of  the  policy  of  the  Government  in  the  affairs 
relative  to  Texas  and  Mexico  gives  one  a  very  just  idea  of  the 
character  of  Mr.  Polk's  mind,  and  of  the  peculiarity  of  his  abilities. 
The  arguments  he  presents  are  plausible,  rather  than  convincing. 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK.  297 

One  can  scarcely  conceive  of  such  a  document  coming  from  the 
pen  of  Jefferson  or  of  Webster. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1849,  Mr.  Polk  retired  from  oflSce,  having 
served  one  term.  The  next  day  was  Sunday.  On  the  5th,  Gen. 
Taylor  was  inaugurated  as  his  successor.  Mr.  Polk  rode  to  the 
Capitol  in  the  same  carriage  with  Gen.  Taylor;  and  the  same  even- 
ing, with  Mrs.  Polk,  he  commenced  his  return  to  Tennessee.  Very 
enthusiastic  demonstrations  of  regard  met  him  as  he  journeyed 
through  the  Southern  States.  At  Wilmington,  Charleston,  Sa- 
vannah, and  New  Orleans,  he  was  honored  with  splendid  ovations. 
He  had  previously  purchased  a  beautiful  mansion  in  the  heart  of 
the  city  of  Nashville. 

He  was  then  but  fifty-four  years  of  age.  He  had  ever  been 
strictly  temperate  in  his  habits,  and  his  health  was  good.  With 
an  ample  fortune,  a  choice  library,  a  cultivated  mind,  and  domestic 
ties  of  the  dearest  nature,  it  seemed  as  though  long  years  of  tran- 
quillity and  happiness  were  before  him.  But  the  cholera  —  that 
fearful  scourge  —  was  then  sweeping  up  the  Valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. President  Polk  steamed  up  the  river  from  New  Orleans. 
On  board  the  boat,  he  perceived  the  premonitory  symptoms  of  the 
dread  disease.  When  he  reached  his  home,  his  system  was  much 
debilitated.  A  personal  friend  gives  the  following  account  of  his 
last  hours :  — 

''  Having  reached  Nashville,  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  improve- 
ment of  his  grounds,  and  was  seen  every  day  about  his  dwelling, 
aiding  and  directing  the  workmen  he  had  employed,  —  now  over- 
looking a  carpenter,  now  giving  instructions  to  a  gardener,  often 
attended  by  Mrs.  Polk,  whose  exquisite  taste  constituted  the 
element  of  every  improvement.  It  is  not  a  fortnight  since  I  saw 
him  on  the  lawn,  directing  some  men  who  were  removing  decaying 
cedars.  I  was  struck  with  his  erect  and  healthful  bearing,  and 
the  active  energy  of  his  manner,  which  gave  promise  of  long  life. 
His  flowing  gray  locks  alone  made  him  appear  beyond  the  middle 
age  of  life.  He  seemed  in  full  health.  The  next  day  being  rainy, 
he  remained  within,  and  began  to  arrange  his  large  library.  The 
labor  of  reaching  books  from  the  floor,  and  placing  them  on  the 
shelves,  brought  on  fatigue  and  slight  fever,  which,  the  next  day, 
assumed  the  character  of  disease  in  the  form  of  chronic  diarrhoea. 

"  For  the  first  three  days,  his  friends  felt  no  alarm ;  but,  the 
disease  baffling  the  skill  of  his  physicians,  Dr.  Hay,  his  brother-in- 

38 


298  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

law,  and  family  physician  for  twenty  years,  was  sent  for  from  Co- 
lumbia. But  the  skill  and  experience  of  this  gentleman,  aided  by 
the  highest  medical  talent,  proved  of  no  avail.  Mr,  Polk  continued 
gradually  to  sink  from  day  to  day.  The  disease  was  checked 
upon  him  four  days  before  his  death ;  but  his  constitution  was  so 
weakened,  that  there  did  not  remain  recuperative  energy  enough 
in  the  system  for  healthy  re-action.  He  sank  away  so  slowly  and 
insensibly,  that  the  heavy  death-respirations  commenced  eight 
hours  before  he  died.  He  died  without  a  struggle,  simply  ceasing 
to  breathe,  as  when  deep  and  quiet  sleep  falls  upon  a  weary  man. 
About  half  an  hour  preceding  his  death,  his  venerable  mother  en- 
tered the  room,  and  offered  up  a  beautiful  prayer  to  the  King  of 
kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  committing  the  soul  of  her  son  to  his 
holy  keeping." 

His  death  occurred  on  the  15th  of  June,  1849,  in  the  jBfty-fourth 
year  of  his  age.  His  funeral  was  attended  the  following  day,  in 
Nashville,  with  every  demonstration  of  respect.  He  left  no  chil- 
dren. As  death  drew  near,  he  felt,  as  thousands  of  others  have 
done,  the  need  of  the  supports  of  Christianity,  and,  in  that  eleventh 
hour,  received  the  rite  of  baptism  at  the  hands  of  a  Methodist 
clergyman. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ZACHARY  TAYLOR. 

Birth.  —  Emigration  to  Kentucky.  —  Neglected  Education.  —  Enters  the  Army.  —  Life  on 
the  Frontier. —  Battles  with  the  Indians.  —  Campaign  in  Florida.  —  The  Mexican  War. 
—  Palo  Alto.  —  Resaca  de  la  Palma.  —  Monterey.  —  Buena  Vista.  —  Nominated  for  the 
Presidency.  —  Sufferings.  —  Death. 

Zachaey  Taylor,  the  twelfth  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  on  the  24th  of  November,  178-i,  in  Orange  County,  Va. 


RESIDENCE  OF  ZACHARY   TAYLOR. 


His  father,  Col.  Richard  Taylor,  was  a  Virginian  of  note,  and  a  dis- 
tinguished patriot  and  soldier  of  the  Revolution.  "When  Zachary 
was  an  infant,  his  father,  with  his  wife  and  two  other  children, 
emigrated  to  Kentucky,  where  he  settled  in  the  pathless  wilder- 

299 


\ 


300  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

ness,  a  few  miles  out  from  the  present  city  of  Louisville.  He  was 
one  of  the  first  settlers  of  that  region ;  and  as  such,  when  the  pop- 
ulation increased,  was  honored  with  many  responsible  trusts. 

In  this  rude  frontier-home,  far  away  from  civilization  and  all 
its  refinements,  young  Zachary  could  enjoy  but  few  social  or  edu- 
cational advantages.  When  six  years  of  age,  he  attended  a  com- 
mon school,  and  was  then  regarded  as  a  bright,  active  boy,  rather 
remarkable  for  bluntness,  and  decision  of  character.  He  was 
strong,  fearless,  and  self-reliant,  and  manifested  an  eager  desire  to 
enter  the  army  to  fight  the  Indians  who  were  ravaging  the  fron- 
tiers. There  is  little  to  be  recorded  of  the  uneventful  years  of 
his  childhood  on  his  father's  large  but  lonely  plantation.  In  1808, 
his  father  succeeded  in  obtaining  for  him  the  commission  of  lieu- 
tenant in  the  United-States  army ;  and  he  joined  the  troops  which 
were  stationed  at  New  Orleans  under  Gen.  Wilkinson.  Soon 
after  this,  he  married  Miss  Margaret  Smith,  a  young  lady  from  one 
of  the  first  families  in  Maryland. 

Our  relations  with  England  were,  at  this  time,  becoming  very 
threatening ;  and  we  were  upon  the  eve  of  our  second  war  with 
that  power.  The  English  ofiicials  in  Canada  were  doing  their 
utmost  to  rouse  the  Indians  against  us.  Immediately  after  the 
declaration  of  war  in  1812,  Capt.  Taylor  (for  he  had  then  been 
promoted  to  that  rank)  was  put  in  command  of  Fort  Harrison,  on 
the  Wabash,  about  fifty  miles  above  Yincennes.  This  fort  had 
been  built  in  the  wilderness  by  Gen.  Harrison,  on  his  march  to 
Tippecanoe.  It  was  one  of  the  first  points  of  attack  by  the 
Indians,  led  by  Tecumseh.  The  works  consisted  simply  of  a  row 
of  log-huts  for  soldiers'  barracks,  with  a  strong  block-house  at 
each  end.  These  buildings  occupied  one  side  of  a  square,  the 
other  three  sides  of  wliich  were  composed  of  rows  of  high  pickets. 
Its  garrison  consisted  of  a  broken  company  of  infantry,  number- 
ing fifty  men,  many  of  whom  were  sick. 

Early  in  the  autumn  of  1812,  the  Indians,  stealthily,  and  in  large 
numbers,  moved  upon  the  fort.  Their  approach  was  first  indi- 
cated by  the  murder  of  two  soldiers  just  outside  of  the  stockade. 
Capt.  Taylor  made  every  possible  preparation  to  meet  the  an- 
ticipated assault.  On  the  4th  of  September,  a  band  of  about  forty 
painted  and  plumed  savages  came  to  the  fort,  waiving  a  white 
flag,  and  informed  Capt.  Taylor,  that,  in  the  morning,  their  chief 
would  come  to  have  a  talk  with  him.     It  was  evident  that  their 


Z  A  CHARY  TAYLOR.       '  301 

object  was  merely  to  ascertain  the  state  of  things  at  the  fort ;  and 
Capt.  Taylor,  well  versed  in  the  wiles  of  the  savages,  kept  them 
at  a  distance. 

The  sun  went  down  ;  the  savages  disappeared ;  the  garrison 
slept  upon  their  arms.  One  hour  before  midnight,  the  war-whoop 
burst  from  a  thousand  lips  in  the  forest  around,  followed  by  the 
discharge  of  musketry,  and  the  rush  of  the  foe.  Every  man,  sick 
and  well,  sprang  to  his  post.  Every  man  knew  that  defeat  was  not 
merely  death,  but,  in  case  of  capture,  death  by  the  most  agonizing 
and  prolonged  torture.  No  pen  can  describe,  no  imagination  can 
conceive,  the  scene  Avhich  ensued.  The  savages  succeeded  in 
setting  fire  to  one  of  the  block-houses.  There  was  a  large  amount 
of  whiskey  stored  in  the  building ;  and  the  sheets  of  flame,  flash- 
ing to  the  clouds,  lit  up  the  whole  landscape  with  lurid  brilliancy. 
The  forest,  the  dancing  savages,  the  yells  of  the  assailants,  the 
crackling  and  glare  of  the  fire,  the  yelping  of  the  dogs,  the  shrieks 
of  the  women  (for  there  were  several  in  the  fort),  who  had  become 
almost  frantic  with  terror,  the  shouts  of  command,  the  incessant 
rattle  of  musketry, — all  created  a  scene  of  terror  which  caused  the 
stoutest  heart  to  quail.  Of  course,  no  one  thought  of  surrender. 
It  was  far  better  to  perish  by  the  bullet  or  the  fire  than  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  foe.  Until  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  this 
awful  conflict  continued.  The  savages  then,  baffled  at  every 
point,  and  gnashing  their  teeth  with  rage,  retired.  Capt.  Taylor, 
for  this  gallant  defence,  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major  by 
brevet. 

Until  the  termination  of  the  war,  Major  Taylor  was  placed  in 
such  situations,  that  he  saw  but  little  more  of  active  service. 
When  the  army  was  reduced  at  the  close  of  the  war,  the  military 
board  retained  him,  but  assigned  to  him  only  the  rank  of  captain. 
Not  reUshing  this  arrangement.  Major  Taylor  resigned  his  com- 
mission, and  returned  to  the  peaceful  pursuits  of  agricultural  life 
on  his  plantation.  Soon,  however,  the  influence  of  friends  regained 
for  him  his  rank  of  major;  and,  returning  to  the  army, he  was  sent 
far  away  into  the  depths  of  the  wilderness,  to  Fort  Crawford,  on 
Fox  River,  which  empties  into  Green  Bay.  Here  there  was  but 
little  to  be  done  but  to  wear  away  the  tedious  hours  as  one  best 
could.  There  were  no  books,  no  society,  no  intellectual  stimulus. 
Thus  with  him  the  uneventful  years  rolled  on.  Gradually  he  rose 
to  the  rank  of  colonel.     In  the  Black-Hawk  War,  which  resulted 


\ 


302  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

in  the  capture  of  that  renowned  chieftain,  Col.  Taylor  took  a  sub- 
ordinate but  a  brave  and  efficient  part. 

It  is  related  of  Col.  Taylor,  that,  while  engaged  in  this  war,  he 
was  at  one  time  pursuing  Black  Hawk  with  his  Indian  band,  when 
they  came  to  Rock  River,  which  was  then  understood  to  be  the 
north-west  boundary  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  He  had  under  his 
command  a  pretty  large  force  of  volunteers  and  a  few  regulars. 
The  volunteers  openly  declared  that  they  would  not  cross  the 
river,  as  they  had  enlisted  only  for  the  defence  of  the  State  ;  and 
that  they  were  not  bound  to  march  beyond  the  frontier  into  the 
Indian  country.  Col.  Taylor,  inclining  J;o  the  same  opinion,  en- 
camped upon  the  banks  of  the  stream.  But,  during  the  night, 
orders  came  for  him  to  follow  up  Black  Hawk  to  the  last  extrem- 
ity. The  soldiers,  hearing  of  this,  assembled  on  the  prairie,  in  a 
sort  of  town-meeting,  to  deliberate  respecting  what  they  should 
do.  Col.  Taylor  was  invited  to  attend.  He  was  a  man  of  few 
words,  but  had  already  attained  some  celebrity  for  his  decisive 
actions. 

Very  quietly,  for  a  time,  he  listened  to  their  proceedings.  At 
length,  it  came  his  turn  to  speak.  "  Gentlemen  and  fellow-citi- 
zens," said  he,  "  the  word  has  been  passed  on  to  me  from  Wash- 
ington to  follow  Black  Hawk,  and  to  take  you  with  me  as  soldiers. 
I  mean  to  do  both.  There  are  the  flat-boats  drawn  up  on  the 
shore  ;  here  are  Uncle  Sam's  men  drawn  up  behind  you  on  the 
-prairie." 

There  was  no  resisting  this  argument.  In  a  few  hours,  they 
were  all  across  the  river,  in  hot  pursuit  of  the  foe.  For  twenty- 
four  years,  Col.  Taylor  was  engaged  in  the  defence  of  the  fron- 
tiers, in  scenes  so  remote,  and  in  employments  so  obscure,  that 
his  name  was  unknown  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  immediate 
acquaintance.  In  the  year  1836,  he  was  sent  to  Florida  to  com- 
pel the  Seminole  Indians  to  vacate  that  region,  and  retire  beyond 
the  Mississippi,  as  their  chiefs,  by  treaty,  had  promised  they  should 
do.  The  great  mass  of  the  Indians,  denying  the  right  of  a  few 
chiefs  to  sell  the  hunting-grounds  of  their  fathers,  refused  to  emi- 
grate :  hence  the  war.  Col.  Taylor  was  sent  to  capture  or  destroy 
them,  wherever  they  might  be  found. 

But  little  lasting  fame  can  be  acquired  in  fighting  undisciplined 
savages.  And  still  the  American  Indians  were  so  brave  and  so 
cunning,  appearing  at  this  moment  like  a  pack  of  howling  wolves 


ZACHAEY  TAYLOR.  303 

in  one  spot,  and  the  next  moment  dispersed,  no  one  could  tell 
where,  that  it  required  military  qualities  of  a  very  high  char- 
acter successfully  to  contend  with  them.  "  War,"  says  Napoleon, 
"is  the  science  of  barbarians."  Indian  warfare  has  ever  been 
found  a  very  good  school  in  which  to  acquire  the  rudiments  of  that 
science.  It  requires  constant  vigilance,  prompt  action,  patience, 
versatility  of  talent,  to  meet  every  emergency,  and  courage  of  the 
highest  order  to  face  death  in  its  most  appalling  form. 

The  war  with  the  Seminoles  was  long,  bloody,  and  inglorious ; 
and,  with  many  of  the  American  people,  it  was  considered  as,  on 
the  part  of  our  Government,  very  unjust.  Early  in  the  winter  of 
1837,  Col.  Taylor,  with  a  small  army  of  about  one  thousand  men, 
commenced  a  march  into  the  interior  to  assail  a  large  body  of 
Seminole  warriors  who  were  encamped  upon  the  banks  of  the 
great  inland  lake,  Okeechobee.  Their  path,  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles,  led  through  an  unexplored  wilderness,  intersected  by 
rivers,  vast  forests  of  oak  and  pine,  and  immense  morasses  of 
gloomy  cypress-trees,  with  almost  impenetrable  underbrush,  and 
interlacings  of  vines  and  pendent  moss.  There  was  no  path 
through  these  vast  solitudes,  and  no  food  could  be  gathered  on 
the  way  for  either  man  or  beast. 

Upon  the  northern  shore  of  this  lake  there  was  a  swamp,  in  the 
midst  of  whose  recesses  a  small  island  was  found.  Here  seven 
hundred  Seminole  warriors,  having  learned  through  their  runners 
of  the  advance  of  the  white  man,  had  stationed  themselves  to  give 
battle.  They  were  well  armed  with  rifles,  and  were  unerring  in 
their  aim.  Every  man  of  them  stood  behind  his  protecting  tree ; 
and  rarely  has  warfare  presented  greater  peril  than  the  men  were 
exposed  to  in  wading  through  that  swamp  in  the  face  of  such  a  foe. 
The- Indians,  nimble  as  deer,  could  vanish  in  an  hour;  and  weeks 
and  months  might  elapse  before  they  could  again  be  found. 
Under  these  circumstances.  Col.  Taylor  made  no  reconnoissance, 
but  fell  instantly  and  impetuously  upon  them. 

It  was  necessary  to  cross  the  swamp,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in 
breadth,  through  mud  and  water  knee-deep,  impeded  by  brush  and 
weeds,  and  tall,  coarse,  wiry  grass,  before  they  could  reach  the 
island  or  hummock  where  the  foe  was  stationed.  As  soon  as 
Taylor's  advance  came  within  musket-shot,  the  Indians  poured  in 
upon  them  such  a  deadly  fire,  that  the  troops  broke,  and  fled  in  a 
panic  which  nothing  could  check.     A  second  line  advanced  more 


304  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

cautiously,  seeking  such  protection  as  the  ground  could  afford, 
and  keeping  up  a  constant  discharge  of  musketry :  but  the 
Indians,  from  their  thicket,  concentrated  upon  them  such  well- 
aimed  shot,  that,  in  a  few  minutes,  every  officer  was  struck  down ; 
and,  in  one  company,  but  four  men  were  left  untouched. 

In  the  mean  time,  other  parties,  by  other  approaches,  had  gained 
the  hummock ;  and  the  Indians  broke  and  fled.  For  three  hours, 
this  battle  was  fought  with  the  utmost  desperation  on  both  sides ; 
but  the  rout  was  complete.  The  Seminoles  lost  so  large  a  num- 
ber of  their  warriors,  that  they  never  ventured  to  give  battle 
again.  Their  forces  were  afterwards  divided  into  marauding 
bands,  who  gradually,  crushed  in  spirit,  surrendered,  and  were 
removed  to  the  lands  allotted  to  them  beyond  the  Mississippi. 
Gen.  Taylor  lost,  in  killed,  about  thirty,  including  many  of  his 
most  valuable  officers.  One  hundred  and  twelve  were  wounded. 
These  unhappy  men  were  carried  across  the  country,  to  Tampa 
Bay,  on  litters  roughly  constructed  of  poles  and  hides.  This  sig- 
nal victory  secured  for  Col.  Taylor  the  high  appreciation  of  the 
Government ;  and,  as  a  reward,  he  was  elevated  to  the  rank  of  brig- 
adier-general by  brevet ;  and  soon  after,  in  May,  1838,  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  chief  command  of  the  United-States  troops  in 
Florida.  Broken  bands  of  Indians,  in  a  high  state  of  exasperation, 
were  for  a  long  time  wandering  through  the  country,  requiring 
the  most  strenuous  exertions  on  the  part  of  Col.  Taylor  to  protect 
the  scattered  inhabitants. 

Gen,  Taylor,  in  his  official  account  of  the  battle  of  Okeechobee, 
says,  "  The  action  was  a  severe  one,  and  continued  from  half-past 
twelve  until  after  three  in  the  afternoon;  a  part  of  the  time,  very 
close  and  severe.  We  suffered  much.  The  hostiles  probably 
suffered,  all  things  considered,  equally  with  ourselves ;  they  hav- 
ing left  ten  on  the  ground,  besides,  doubtless,  carrying  off  many 
more,  as  is  customary  with  them  when  practicable. 

"  As  soon  as  the  enemy  were  completely  broken,  I  turned  my 
attention  to  taking  care  of  the  wounded,  to  facilitate  their  removal 
to  my  baggage,  where  I  ordered  an  encampment  to  be  formed.  I 
directed  Capt.  Taylor  to  cross  over  to  the  spot,  and  employ 
every  individual  whom  he  might  find  there,  in  constructing  a 
small  footway  across  the  swamp.  This,  with  great  exertions,  was 
completed  in  a  short  time  after  dark ;  when  all  the  dead  and 
wounded  were  carried  over  in  litters  made  for  that  purpose,  with 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR.  305 

one  exception,  —  a  private  of  the  Fourth  Infantry,  who  was  killed, 
and  could  not  be  found. 

"  And  here,  I  trust,  I  may  be  permitted  to  say,  that  I  expe- 
rienced one  of  the  most  trying  scenes  of  my  life.  And  he  who 
could  have  looked  on  it  with  indifference,  his  nerves  must  have 
been  very  differently  organized  from  my  own.  Besides  the 
killed,  there  lay  one  hundred  and  twelve  w^ounded  officers  and 
soldiers,  who  had  accompanied  me  one  hundred  and  forty-five 
miles,  most  of  the  way  through  an  unexplored  wilderness,  with- 
out guides;  who  had  so  gallantly  beaten  the  enemy,  under  my 
orders,  in  his  strongest  position;  and  who  had  to  be  conveyed  back 
through  swamps  and  hummocks  from  whence  we  set  out,  without 
any  apparent  means  of  doing  so. 

"  This  service,  however,  was  encountered  and  overcome  ;  and 
they  have  been  conveyed  thus  far,  and  proceeded  on  to  Tampa 
Bay,  on  rude  litters  constructed  with  the  axe  and  knife  alone,  with 
poles  and  dry  hides  ;  the  latter  being  found  in  great  abundance  at 
the  encampment  of  the  hostiles.  The  litters  were  conveyed  on 
the  backs  of  our  weak  and  tottering  horses,  aided  by  the  residue 
of  the  command,  with  more  ease  and  comfort  than  I  could  have 
supposed,  and  with  as  much  as  they  could  have  been  in  ambu- 
lances of  the  most  improved  and  modern  construction. 

"  This  column,  in  six  weeks,  penetrated  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  into  the  enemy's  country ;  opened  roads,  and  constructed 
bridges  and  causeways,  when  necessary,  on  the  greater  portion  of 
the  route ;  established  two  depots,  and  the  necessary  defences  for 
the  same ;  and,  finally,  overtook  and  beat  the  enemy  in  his  strongest 
position.  The  results  of  which  movements  and  battle  havu  been 
the  capture  of  thirty  of  the  hostiles ;  the  coming-in  and  surrender- 
ing of  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  Indians  and  negroes, 
mostly  of  the  former,  including  the  chiefs,  Oulatoochee,  Tusta- 
nuggee,  and  other  principal  men ;  the  capturing,  and  driving 
out  of  the  country,  six  hundred  head  of  cattle,  upwards  of  one 
hundred  head  of  horses,  besides  obtaining  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  country  through  which  we  operated,  a  greater  portion  of 
which  was  entirely  unknown  except  to  the  enemy." 

After  two  years  of  such  wearisome  employment  amidst  the  ever- 
glades of  the  peninsula,  Gen.  Taylor  obtained,  at  his  own  request,  a 
change  of  command,  and  was  stationed  over  the  Department  of  the 
South-west.     This  field  embraced  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama, 

39 


306  LIVES  OF  TUE  PRESIDENTS. 

aud  Georgia.  Establishing  bis  bead  quarters  at  Fort  Jessup,  in 
Louisiana,  he  removed  his  family  to  a  plantation,  which  he  pur- 
chased, near  Baton  Rouge.  Here  he  remained  for  five  years, 
buried,  as  it  were,  from  the  world,  yet  faithfully  discharging  every 
duty  imposed  upon  him. 

It  has  been  said  that  bayonets  must  not  think.  Gen.  Taylor  was 
an  officer  in  the  employment  of  the  United-States  Government, 
aud,  as  such,  was  bound,  as  he  supposed,  to  obey  orders.  In  the 
spring  of  1845,  Congress  passed  a  joint  resolution  for  the  annex- 
ation of  Texas  ;  and  Gen.  Taylor  was  directed  to  hold  his  troops  in 
readiness  for  action  on  the  Texan  frontier.  Into  the  question  of 
the  right  or  wrong  of  this  annexation,  we  have  no  space  to  enter. 
Gen.  Taylor's  position  was,  however,  embarrassing,  as  it  appeared 
to  be  the  desire  of  the  Government  (James  K.  Folk  having  just 
entered  upon  the  presidency)  that  Gen.  Taylor  should  take  steps 
to  bring  on  a  collision  with  Mexico,  of  which  the  Government 
wished  to  avoid  the  responsibility.  He  therefore  declined  acting 
upon  his  own  responsibility,  silently  waiting  for  implicit  instruc- 
tions. 

The  River  Xueces  was  claimed  by  Mexico  to  be  the  original 
western  boundary  of  Texas;  but  Secretary  Marcy,  in  his  de- 
spatch to  Gen.  Taylor,  indicated  the  Rio  Grande,  nearly  two  hun- 
dred miles  farther  west,  or  rather  south,  as  the  boundary -line  to  be 
defended.  He  was,  however,  not  ordered,  at  first,  to  advance  to 
the  Rio  Grande;  though  he  was  directed  to  cross  the  Xueces  River, 
and  establish  his  corps  of  observation  at  Corpus  Christi,  on  the 
western  bank  of  the  river.  In  August,  184:5,  he  took  his  position 
here,  with  fifteen  hundred  troops,  which,  in  November,  was  in- 
creased by  re-enforcements  to  four  thousand.  Although,  when  at 
Corpus  Christi,  he  was  on  ground  which  the  Mexicans  claimed,  so 
long  as  he  remained  there,  there  was  apparently  no  danger  of 
collision  with  the  Mexican  authorities.  He  disregarded  all  the 
hints  which  came  to  liim  from  ^Yashington  for  a  farther  advance 
westward,  until  March,  1846,  when  there  came  explicit  orders  for 
him  to  advance  to  the  Rio  Grande.  He  accordingly  took  up  his 
line  of  march  over  the  boundless  prairies  which  Mexico  claimed  as 
her  territory.  At  the  distance  of  about  one  hundred  miles,  he 
came  to  the  waters  of  the  Colorado.  Here  he  found  a  Mexican 
force  drawn  up  upon  the  western  bank,  but  altogether  too  feeble 
to  attempt  to  dispute  his  passage.     Still  the  Mexican  commander 


ZAOHARY  TAYLOR.  307 

sent  a  protest  against  what  he  regarded  as  the  invasion  of  Mexico, 
and  declared  that  the  crossing  of  the  Colorado  would  be  regarded 
as  a  declaration  of  war. 

Gen.  Taylor,  assuming  that  he  was  simply  bound  to  obey  orders, 
paid  no  attention  to  the  warning,  and  crossed  the  river  in  sight  of 
the  Mexican  detachment,  who  peaceably  withdrew.  Continuing 
his  march,  he  sent  a  detachment  to  occupy  Point  Isabel,  on  the 
banks  of  an  inlet  opening  into  the  Gulf,  which  was  easily  accessi- 
ble by  steamers,  and  had  been  fixed  upon  as  the  deput  for  army 
supplies.  The  main  body  of  the  army  soon  reached  the  Rio 
Grande,  and  commenced  throwing  up  defensive  works.  Opposite 
them,  upon  the  western  bank,  was  the  Mexican  city  of  Matamoras. 
This  invasion  of  their  country,  as  the  Mexicans  deemed  it,  excited 


GEN.   TAYLOR   ON   THE    RIO  GRANDE. 


great  indignation.  The  Mexican  commander,  Gen.  Ampudia,  re- 
fused to  hold  any  friendly  intercourse  with  the  Americans,  and 
on  the  12th  of  April,  by  orders  from  his  Government,  issued  a 
summons  to  Gen.  Taylor  to  return  to  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Nueces,  there  to  await  the  decision  of  the  two  Governments,  who 


308  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

were  discussing  the  question  of  the  true  boundaries  of  Texas. 
He  added,  that  the  refusal  to  do  this  must  inevitably^lead  to  war. 
Our  Government  evidently  wished  to  provoke  hostilities.  Gen. 
Taylor  replied,  that,  as  he  was  acting  in  a  purely  military  capacity, 
his  instructions  would  not  allow  him  to  retire  to  the  Nueces  ;  and 
that,  if  war  were  the  only  alternative,  he  accepted  it  with  regret. 

Gen.  Taylor  wrote  to  the  adjutant-general,  April  6,  1846,  "On 
our  side,  a  battery  for  four  eighteen-pounders  will  be  completed, 
and  the  guns  placed  in  battery,  to-day.  These  guns  bear  directly 
upon  the  public  square  at  Matamoras,  and  are  within  good  range 
for  demolishing  the  town.  Their  object  cannot  be  mistaken  by  the 
enemy." 

President  Polk  did  not  regard  this  as  a  hostile  measure  which 
the  Mexicans  had  any  right  to  resist.  In  the  mean  time.  Commo- 
dore Sloat  was  sent  to  the  Pacific  with  seven  ships  of  war  and  nearly 
three  thousand  men,  with  secret  orders  to  seize  and  occupy  San 
Francisco  and  other  Mexican  ports  on  the  Pacific  as  soon  as  he 
should  hear  of  the  existence  of  war  between  Mexico  and  the  United 
States.  Accordingly,  on  the  7th  of  July,  1846,  hearing  of  the  vic- 
tories of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  he  seized  Monterey,  in 
California,  without  resistance,  and  "annexed"  California;  announ- 
cing that  "  henceforth  California  will  be  a  portion  of  the  United 
States." 

The  whole  territory  we  wrested  from  Mexico  is  estimated  to  be 
as  large  as  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  France,  Spain,  Portugal, 
Italy,  and  Germany  combined.  In  Cutt's  "  Conquest  of  Califor- 
nia," he  relates  the  following  anecdote  :  — • 

"  Just  as  we  were  leaving  camp  to-day,  an  old  Apache  chief 
came  in,  and  harangued  the  general  thus  :  '  You  have  taken 
Santa  Fe,  Let  us  go  on  and  take  Chihuahua  and  Sonora.  We 
will  go  with  you.  You  fight  for  the  soil ;  we  fight  for  plunder  : 
so  we  will  agree  perfectly.  These  people  are  bad  Christians : 
let  us  give  them  a  good  thrashing.'  " 

This  interview  between  Gen.  Kearney  and  the  Indian  warrior 
reminds  one  of  the  ancient  anecdote  of  Alexander  and  the  pirate. 

The  two  armed  forces  upon  the  Matamoras  remained  in  the 
presence  of  each  other  for  a  month.  For  more  than  two  miles 
along  each  bank  of  the  river,  antagonistic  batteries  were  facing 
each  other,  the  guns  shotted,  and  the  artillery-men  on  both  sides 
impatient  for  the  order  to  fire.     The  situation  naturally  gave  rise 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR.  309 

to  many  cau&es  of  irritation  on  both  sides.  Brazos  Santiago,  the 
port  of  Matamoras,  was  blockaded  by  order  of  Gen.  Taylor ;  and 
two  supply-ships  for  the  Mexican  army  were  ordered  off  the  harbor. 
No  one  could  deny  that  this  was  a  hostile  act.  The  deputy  quar- 
termaster of  the  American  troops  was  murdered  a  short  distance 
from  camp.  A  small  party  of  United-States  soldiers,  in  pursuit  of 
the  murderers,  fell  upon  a  band  of  Mexicans,  fired  upon  them,  and 
put  them  to  flight,  taking  possession  of  their  camp.  On  their 
return,  they  were  fired  upon  by  another  Mexican  party,  and  one 
of  their  ofiicers  was  killed.  Thus,  gradually,  hostilities  were  in- 
augurated. A  Mexican  force  crossed  the  Rio  Grande  above  Mat- 
amoras. A  squadron  of  United-States  dragoons,  sent  to  watch 
their  movements,  was  attacked  by  the  Mexicans,  and,  after  the 
Jo«?s  of  ten  men  killed,  was  captured. 

Point  Isabel,  which,  as  we  have  mentioned,  was  about  twelve 
miles  from  Matamoras,  was  threatened  by  a  force  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred Mexicans;  and  Gen.  Taylor's  connection  with  his  depot  of 
supplies  was  cut  off.  In  order  to  open  his  communications,  he 
left  a  garrison  at  Fort  Brown,  as  his  works  opposite  Matamoras 
were  called,  and,  with  the  remainder  of  his  army,  set  out  on  the 
1st  of  May  for  Point  Isabel.  Immediately  after  his  departure, 
the  Mexicans  opened  fire  upon  Fort  Brown  from  a  battery  on 
the  western  side  of  the  river.  The  hostile  battery  was  soon 
silenced  ;  but,  after  the  lapse  of  a  day,  another  and  more  formida- 
ble assault  was  made,  the  Mexicans  having  crossed  the  river,  so 
as  to  attack  the  fort  both  in  front  and  rear.  After  a  spirited  bom- 
bardment on  both  sides,  night  closed  the  conflict.  In  the  night, 
by  firing  his  eighteen-pounders  at  stated  intervals.  Major  Brown, 
wlio  was  in  command,  signalled  Gen.  Taylor  that  he  was  sur- 
rounded. The  next  morning,  the  Mexicans  resumed  the  assault. 
Their  shells  fell  with  such  accuracy  into  the  camp,  that  the  gar- 
rison was  driven  into  the  bomb-proofs.  Major  Brown  was  mortally 
wounded.  The  command  devolved  upon  Capt.  Hawkins.  He 
refused  the  summons  to  surrender,  and  endured  the  terrible  bom- 
bardment until  night  again  closed  the  scene.  It  was  the  6th  of 
May. 

In  the  mean  time,  Gen.  Taylor,  having  learned  that  the  Mexi- 
cans had  crossed  the  river  with  six  thousand  men,  and  that  Fort 
Brown  was  surrounded  and  in  great  peril,  commenced  vigorously 
retracing  his  steps.     The  morning  of  the  8th  dawned.     The  Mexi- 


310  LIVES  OF   THE  PRESIDENTS. 

cans  opened  again  tlieir  bombardment  with  new  vigor  and  hope. 
The  thunders  of  the  cannonade  floated  over  the  vast  prairies,  and 
fell  heavily  upon  the  ears  of  the  host  advancing  to  the  rescue  of 
their  comrades.  About  noon,  Taylor's  force  encountered  the 
Mexicans.  Their  appearance  was  very  imposing,  as  three  thou- 
sand men  — infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery,  with  waving  banners 
and  gleaming  armor  —  were  drawn  up  on  the  broad  prairie,  in  a 
line  nearly  a  mile  in  length.  Their  right  rested  upon  a  dense 
thicket  of  chaparral,  and  their  left  was  protected  by  a  swimp. 
They  had  eleven  field-pieces  in  position. 

Gen.  Taylor  had  about  twenty-two  hundred  men ;  and  was,  on 
the  whole,  superior  to  the  Mexicans  in  artillery,  as  he  had  ten 
guns,  two  of  which  were  eighteen-pounders.  He  drew  up  his 
army  in  battle-array,  about  half  a  mile  distant  from  the  Mexicans. 
The  field  of  Palo  Alto,  upon  which  these  hostile  armies  Avere  thus 
arrayed,  was  a  vast  plain,  with  nothing  to  obstruct  the  view. 
When  both  armies  were  ready,  they  stood  for  twenty  minutes 
looking  at  each  other,  each  hesitating  to  begin  the  ^vork  of 
death.  At  length  a  white  puff  of  smoke  burst  from  one  of  the 
Mexican  guns,  and  a  cannon-bail  whistled  over  the  heads  of 
the  American  troops.  This  opened  the  battle.  It  was  mainly  an 
artillery  contest  on  both  sides.  Gen.  Taylor  was  not  a  tactician : 
he  was  simply  a  stern,  straightforward,  indomitable  fighter. 
The  combatants  kept  at  quite  a  distance  from  each  other,  throw- 
ing their  shot  and  shell  often  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  mile. 
Thus  the  battle  raged  for  five  hours,  each  army  being  exposed 
to  every  shot  of  its  antagonist.  The  superior  skill  of  the  Ameri- 
can gunners,  and  our  heavier  weight  of  metal,  gave  us  the  ad- 
vantage ;  and  the  loss  was  far  greater  on  the  Mexican  side  than 
on  ours.  The  prairie-grass  took  fire,  and  sheets  of  flame  rolled 
along  ten  feet  high.  Immense  clouds  of  smoke  enveloped  the 
contending  hos  Round-shot,  grape,  and  shells  tore  through 

the  Mexican  ranks  with  great  slaughter.  Our  infantry,  generally, 
threw  themselves  upon  the  ground;  and  most  of  the  enemy's  shot 
either  fell  short,  or  passed  over  their  heads.  Only  four  Americans 
were  killed,  and  thirty-two  wounded.  The  Mexican  loss  w^as  two 
hundred  and  sixty-two. 

When  night  came,  and  closed  the  conflict,  neither  party  knew 
the  efiect  of  the  cannonade  upon  the  other.  The  Mexicans,  how- 
ever, confessed  to  a  defeat,  by  retiring,  under  protection  of  the 


ZACIIAEY  TAYLOR.  311 

darkness,  to  a  new  position  some  few  miles  in  their  rear.  The 
little  garrison  at  Fort  Brown,  while  repelling  the  assault  which 
was  made  upon  them,  listened  with  intense  anxiety  to  the  boom- 
ing of  the  cannon  on  the  field  of  Palo  Alto.  Should  Gen.  Taylor 
be  cut  off  or  driven  back,  the  doom  of  the  garrison  was  sealed. 

The  next  morning,  Gen.  Taylor,  finding  that  the  enemy  had 
disappeared,  moved  forward  to  the  ground  which  the  Mexicans 
had  occupied.  They  had  left  behind  them  their  dead,  and  many 
of  their  wounded.  He  pressed  on  in  pursuit,  and  soon  found 
them,  at  the  distance  of  but  about  three  miles  from  Fort  Brown, 
formidably  posted  in  a  ravine  called  Resaca  de  la  Fahna.  Scat- 
tered around  were  dense  thickets  of  dwarf-oaks,  almost  impene- 
trable. Here  the  Mexican  general.  Arista,  had  so  advantageously 
posted  his  forces,  that  it  required  desperate  valor  to  break 
through.  Again  there  was  a  .battle.  It  commenced  with  artil- 
lery, and  was  followed  up  with  infantry  and  cavalry.  Several 
charges  of  great  impetuosity  were  made.  The  Mexicans  fought 
with  great  bravery  and  with  disciplined  valor.  There  was  but 
little  room  for  generalship.  It  was  simply  hard  fighting.  The 
forces  were  not  far  from  equal  on  both  sides ;  but  the  American 
soldiers,  far  more  intelligent  than  their  foes,  fired  with  much 
more  rapidity  and  with  surer  aim,  and  their  victory  was  com- 
plete. Soon  the  whole  Mexican  line  was  seen  on  the  retreat, 
having  lost  a  thousand  of  their  number  in  killed,  wounded,  and 
missing.  The  American  loss  did  not  exceed  a  hundred  and  fifty. 
The  enemy  fled  across  the  river,  hotly  pursued.  Enthusiastic 
were  the  cheers  of  the  little  band  in  Fort  Brown  as  they  saw  the 
stars  and  stripes  advancing  so  gloriously  to  their  rescue. 

The  tidings  of  these  victories  aroused  to  an  astonishing  degree 
the  martial  spirit  of  the  country.  War  was  now  thoroughly 
inaugurated.  Those  who  had  brought  it  on  were  well  pleased. 
"  Palo  Alto  "  and  "  Resaca  de  la  Palma  "  rang  through  the  land 
as  among  the  most  glorious  victories  which  had  ever  been 
achieved.  "On  to  the  halls  of  the  Montezumas ! "  was  the  cry; 
and  the  few  and  feeble  voices  of  remonstrance  were  drowned  in 
the  exultant  shout.  Congress  authorized  the  President  to  accept 
fifty  thousand  volunteers.  The  rank  of  major-general  by  brevet 
was  conferred  on  Gen.  Taylor.  Congressional  resolutions  com- 
plimented him,  and  the  legislatures  of  several  States  lavished 
upon  him  their  honors.      These  flattering  testimonials  were  re- 


312  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

ceived  by  Gen.  Taylor  with  that  unaffected  simplicity  which  waa 
one  of  his  chief  characteristics,  and  which  was  manifest  in  all 
the  habits  of  his  life.  Though  a  strict  disciplinarian,  he  could 
scarcely  be  distinguished,  in  his  own  personal  appearance  and 
dress,  from  any  common  farmer.  These  habits  secured  for  him 
among  his  troops  the  soubriqivet  of"  Old  Rough  and  Ready." 

An  incident,  which  occurred  soon  after  the  victories  just  re- 
corded, amusingly  illustrates  these  traits  in  his  character.  After 
the  relief  of  Fort  Brown,  Gen.  Taylor  prepared  to  follow  up  his 
victories  by  the  bombardment  of  Matamoras.  Accordingly,  he 
went  to  Point  Isabel  to  arrange  for  the  co-operation  of  the  navy. 
Commodore  Conner,  commanding  in  the  Gulf,  was  as  famed  for 
particularity  in  dress  as  the  general  was  for  negligence  in  that 
respect.  The  commodore  sent  word  that  he  would  pay  the 
general  a  visit  of  ceremony.  This  announcement  caused  much 
agitation  in  the  mind  of  the  kind-hearted  officer.  Without 
embarrassment,  he  could  have  welcomed  his  guest  with  a  hearty 
grip  of  tlie  hand  to  a  seat  on  the  camp-chest,  and  to  a  familiar 
talk  over  their  plans  ;  but  that  the  most  carefully-dressed  officer 
in  the  navy,  in  command  of  its  finest  fleet,  should  pay  him  a  visit 
of  ceremony,  in  full  uniform,  and  surrounded  by  all  the  retinue 
and  equipments  becoming  his  rank,  was  an  anticipation  almost 
too  great  for  nerves  that  scarcely  trembled  in  battle.  The  gene- 
ral, however,  decided  to  receive  the  commodore,  dressed  in  full 
uniform,  —  a  sight  that  his  officers,  who  had  been  associated  with 
him  for  years,  had  never  witnessed.  Meanwhile  Commodore  Con- 
ner, quite  unconscious  of  the  flutter  he  had  caused  in  the  general's 
bosom,  with  the  good  sense  of  a  gallant  and  accomplished  gentle- 
man, prepared  for  his  interview  with  the  plain  old  general,  whose 
habits  were  well  known  to  him. 

At  the  time  appointed,  habited  in  plain  white  drilling,  he  came 
ashore,  without  any  parade  or  any  attendants.  As  soon  as  it  wus 
reported  to  Gen.  Taylor  that  his  visitor  had  landed,  he  hastened 
from  some  heavy  work  which  he  was  superintending,  rushed  into 
his  tent,  brought  from  the  bottom  of  his  chest  a  uniform-coat  that 
for  years  had  been  undisturbed,  arrayed  himself  in  it,  with  its 
standing-collar  raised  on  one  side  three  vacant  button-holes  above 
its  legitimate  height,  and,  in  a  very  uncomfortable  manner,  seated 
himself  for  the  reception.  Commodore  Conner  quietly  entered  the 
tent  of  the  commander-in-chief    The  distinguished  representatives 


1 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR.  313 

of  the  army  and  navy  shook  hands  in  mutual  astonishment  at  each 
other's  personal  appearance.  It  is  said,  that,  after  that  interview, 
Gen.  Taylor  took  to  linen  roundabouts,  of  the  largest  dimensions, 
with  more  pertinacity  than  ever.  It  matters  little  whether  this 
story  be  accurately  true  or  not :  it  illustrates  the  character  of 
the  man. 

Another  amusing  anecdote  has  been  told  illustrative  of  this 
trait  of  extreme  simplicity,  and  disregard  of  the  ordinary  courte- 
sies of  life,  in  the  character  of  Gen.  Taylor.  A  gentleman  who 
had  been  connected  with  the  army,  and  Avas  attached  to  the  same 
regiment  with  Taylor,  and  had  been  intimately  acquainted  with 
him,  visited  Fort  Jessup,  in  Louisiana,  while  the  general  was 
stationed  in  command  at  that  post.  He  had  not  seen  his  old  friend 
for  some  time,  and  was  quite  disappointed  to  learn  that  he  was  a 
hundred  miles  distant,  attending  a  court-martial. 

One  day,  the  gentleman  was  walking  out  from  the  fort  in  a 
morning  ramble,  when  he  met  ''  an  old  country  codger,"  jogging 
along  towards  the  camp,  on  a  donkey.  They  exchanged  saluta- 
tions, according  to  the  custom  in  those  remote  solitudes.  But 
the  figure  of  the  donkey-rider,  on  his  diminutive  beast,  was  so 
comical,  that  the  gentleman  could  not  refrain  from  turning  round, 
and  gazing  at  him  after  he  had  passed.  He  was  dressed  in  a 
coarse  bombazine  frock-coat  and  drab  trousers.  The  bottoms  of 
his  trousers  were  tucked  under  his  coarse,  spattered  boots.  A 
black  cravat  was  tied  loosely  round  his  neck.  He  had  on  a  very 
coarse  straw  hat,  whose  broad  brim,  as  he  trotted  along,  flapped 
up  and  down ;  while,  from  beneath,  long,  uncombed  hair  fluttered 
in  the  breeze. 

The  gentleman  continued  his  walk,  and,  upon  returning  to  the 
fort,  was  cordially  greeted  by  this  comical-looking  donkey-rider, 
who,  to  his  surprise,  he  found  to  be  his  old  friend,  Gen.  Taylor 
In  passing,  neither  had  recognized  the  other. 

On  the  18th  of  May,  Gen.  Taylor,  having  obtained  pontoons, 
crossed  the  Rio  Grande  unopposed,  both  above  and  below  Mata- 
moras,  and  took  possession  of  the  city.  The  request  from  Gen. 
Arista,  for  a  suspension  of  hostilities  until  the  terms  of  boundary 
could  be  amicably  arranged  by  the  two  Governments,  was  posi 
lively  refused.  For  three  months.  Gen.  Taylor  remained  at  Mata- 
moras.  This  was  with  him  a  period  of  great  anxiety.  His 
victories  had  excited  unbounded   enthusiasm,  and  both  govera- 

40 


314  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

ment  and  people  seemed  to  expect  that  he  would  sweep  imme- 
diately and  resistlessly  on  to  the  city  of  Mexico ;  but  this 
required  a  march  of  more  than  five  hundred  miles,  intersected  by 
rivers  easily  defended,  and  mountain-ranges,  in  whose  narrow 
defiles  a  small  band  could  resist  a  host. 

President  Polk,  in  transmitting  to  Gen.  Taylor  his  commission 
of  major-general  by  brevet,  wrote  to  him  as  follows  :  "  It  gave 
me  sincere  pleasure,  immediately  upon  receipt  of  official  intelli- 
gence from  the  scene  of  your  achievements,  to  confer  upon  you, 
by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  this  testimonial 
of  the  estimate  which  your  Government  places  upon  your  skill  and 
gallantry.  To  yourself,  and  the  brave  officers  and  soldiers  under 
your  command,  the  gratitude  of  the  country  is  justly  due.  Our 
army  have  fully  sustained  their  deservedly  high  reputation,  and 
added  another  bright  page  to  the  history  of  American  valor  and 
patriotism.  They  have  won  new  laurels  for  themselves  and  for 
their  country. 

"  The  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palma  rank  among 
our  most  brilliant  victories,  and  will  long  be  remembered  by  the 
American  people.  When  all  the  details  of  those  battles,  and  of 
the  noble  defence  of  the  camp  opposite  to  Matamoras,  shall  have 
been  received,  it  will  be  my  pleasure,  as  it  will  be  my  grateful 
duty,  to  render  to  the  officers  and  men  under  your  command 
suitable  testimonials  for  their  conduct  in  the  brilliant  victories 
which  a  superintending  Providence  has  enabled  them  to  achieve 
for  their  country." 

It  was  Gen.  Taylor's  intention  to  make  Camargo,  which  was 
one  hundred  and  forty  miles  farther  up  the  river,  his  base  of 
operations  in  the  now  contemplated  invasion  of  Mexico.  Camargo 
was  nearer  to  Monterey,  his  next  point  of  attack.  He  Avas,  how- 
ever, delayed  for  some  time  by  the  non-arrival  of  re-enforcements, 
and  by  his  want  of  means  of  transportation.  This  delay  gave  the 
Mexicans  time  to  recover  from  their  panic,  and  to  make  prepara- 
tions for  a  vigorous  resistance.  At  length,  the  latter  part  of  July, 
the  army  was  put  in  motion.  Sixteen  hundred  mules  had  been 
obtained  for  the  transportation.  The  country  through  which  they 
marched  had  long  been  infested  by  banditti;  and  large  numbers 
of  crosses  were  passed,  which  had  been  reared  by  the  friends  of 
murdered  travellers  at  the  places  where  they  had  been  slain. 
These  crosses  were  of  wood,  about  four  feet  high;  some  of  recent 


Z  A  CHARY    TAYLOR.  315 

construction,  and  others  hoary,  and  mossy  with  age.  A  brief  in- 
scription generally  told  the  story.  At  one  place,  there  was  quite 
a  cluster  of  these  crosses,  in  commemoration  of  a  company  of  men, 
women,  and  children,  who,  on  a  pleasure-party  to  Matamoras,  were 
met  by  a  band  of  savages,  and  all  slain.  Irreverently  our  troops 
tore  down  these  crosses,  and  used  them  for  fire-wood.  Camargo 
was  reached  without  opposition ;  and  here  another  delay  occurred, 
of  six  weeks. 

Early  in  September,  the  troops  again  took  up  their  line  of  march 
for  Monterey.  In  the  distance,  there  rose  sublimely  before  them 
the  majestic  peaks  of  the  mountains,  ''  cutting  their  outlines  against 
the  clear  sky  like  huge  masses  of  indigo."  It  was  generally  sup- 
posed that  the  Mexicans  would  not  make  any  stand  at  Monterey, 
and  Gen.  Taylor  was  of  this  opinion.  Soon,  however,  the  indica- 
tions began  to  multiply  that  there  was  trouble  to  be  encountered 
ahead.  The  Mexican  muleteers  shrugged  their  shoulders  omi- 
nously. At  Marin,  a  very  intelligent,  honest-looking  Mexican  was 
asked  if  there  would  be  much  fighting.  "  Yes,  sir,"  he  replied 
very  decidedly  :   "  there  will  be  much  fighting,  and  many  deaths." 

When  they  reached  Seralvo,  Mexican  cavalry  began  to  appear, 
hovering  in  front  and  upon  their  flanks,  watching  every  move- 
ment. At  the  village  of  Ramas,  quite  a  skirmish  ensued.  On  the 
19th  of  September,  the  army  reached  the  outskirts  of  Monterey, 
and  encamped  at  the  Walnut  Springs,  three  miles  distant  from  the 
city,  which  was  beautifully  situated  in  the  Valley  of  the  San  Juan 
River,  and  was  surrounded  by  the  lofty  ridges  of  the  Sierra  Madre. 
Gen.  Taylor  was  so  much  deceived,  that,  two  days  before,  he 
wrote  to  the  War  Department,  — 

"  It  is  even  doubtful  whether  Gen.  Ampudia  will  attempt  to 
hold  Monterey.  His  regular  force  is  small,  say  three  thousand, 
eked  out,  perhaps,  to  six  thousand  by  volunteers,  many  of  them 
forced." 

Instead  of  this,  there  was  found  in  Monterey  a  garrison  of  ten 
thousand  soldiers,  seven  thousand  of  whom  were  regular  troops. 
Gen.  Taylor  had  under  his  command  six  thousand  two  hundred 
and  twenty. 

The  next  day  after  our  arrival,  Sunday  the  20th,  the  enemy's 
works  were  carefully  reconnoitred.  Gen.  Worth  was  then  or- 
dered to  make  a  detour  to  the  west  of  the  city,  and  attack  in  that 
direction,  and  carry  the  works  if  possible.     To  aid  him  in  this 


316  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

endeavor,  Gen.  Taylor  was  to  make  a  demonstration  on  the  east. 
The  Mexicans  were  vigilant,  and  watched  every  movement. 
Promptly  they  threw  out  re-enforcements  to  strengthen  their 
western  lines.  To  divert  their  attention.  Gen.  Taylor  displayed 
a  large  force  on  the  east,  and,  under  cover  of  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  erected  a  battery  of  two  twenty-four-pounder  howitzers,  a 
ten-inch  mortar,  and  four  light  field-batteries  of  four  guns  each. 
In  the  night,  Gen.  Worth  reached  the  Saltillo  Road,  and  occupied 
a  position  just  out  of  the  range  of  the  Mexican  guns. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  Monday,  the  21st,  Gen.  Taylor  received 
a  despatch  from  Gen.  Worth,  dated  nine  o'clock  the  evening 
before,  announcing  the  success  of  his  movement,  and  urging  a 
strong  assault,  in  his  support,  upon  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
town.  About  ten  o'clock,  as  these  troops  were  approaching  the 
eastern  walls,  they  were  opened  upon  from  masked  batteries,  with 
such  a  storm  of  iron,  that  they  quailed  before  it.  Gens.  Taylor 
and  Twiggs  were  both  upon  the  ground.  The  troops  were  thrown 
into  confusion ;  but  the  indomitable  spirit  of  Gen.  Taylor  rallied 
them,  and,  by  an  impetuous  charge,  they  captured  one  fort  and  an 
old  fortified  block-house.  Still  the  scene  of  confusion  was  dread- 
fuh  Many  lives  had  been  lost.  Gen.  Taylor  was  in  the  midst  of 
the  melee,  laboring  under  the  most  intense  excitement. 

As  night  approached,  a  little  order  was  evolved  from  the  chaos. 
Garland's  brigade  held  the  captured  works,  and  the  rest  of  the 
troops  were  sent  back  to  camp.  At  sunset,  it  began  to  rain.  One 
of  the  soldiers  writes,  — 

"  That  was  one  of  the  most  miserable  nights  I  ever  passed.  We 
had  had  nothing  to  eat  since  the  evening  before.  We  had  been 
out  all  night,  and  had  been  fighting  all  day;  nor  was  it  until  the 
next  afternoon  —  making  in  all  about  forty-eight  hours  under 
arms  —  that  we  had  even  a  morsel,  except  some  sugar  that  had 
been  trampled  under  foot." 

The  next  day,  Tuesday,  the  22d,  the  assault  was  not  renewed. 
Its  hours  were  mainly  devoted  to  the  sad  duty  of  taking  care  of 
the  wounded,  and  burying  the  dead.  The  enemy  kept  up  a  vigor- 
ous fire  upon  any  of  our  troops  who  came  within  range.  Gen. 
Worth's  division,  however,  upon  the  other  side  of  the  city,  after 
very  hard  fighting,  succeeded  in  carrying  the  Bishop's  Falace,  and 
turned  its  guns  upon  the  fugitive  garrison.  Gen.  Taylor,  having 
ascertained  the  fact  of  this  decisive  success,  felt  confident  that  the 
Mexicans  could  not  long  hold  possession  of  the  town. 


Z  A  CHARY    TAYLOR.  317 

During  the  night,  the  enemy  evacuated  nearly  all  his  defences 
on  the  eastern  part  of  the  city,  to  strengthen  those  points  now  so 
seriously  menaced  on  the  west  by  Gen,  "Worth.  This  was  reported 
early  in  the  morning  to  Gen.  Taylor.     He  says  in  his  report,  — 

"  I  immediately  sent  instructions  to  that  officer,  leaving  it  to  his 
discretion,  to  enter  the  city,  covering  his  men  by  the  houses  and 
walls,  and  to  advance  as  far  as  he  might  deem  prudent.  After  or- 
dering the  remainder  of  the  troops  as  a  reserve,  under  the  orders  of 
Gen.  Twiggs,  I  repaired  to  the  abandoned  works,  and  discovered 
that  a  portion  of  Gen.  Quitman's  brigade  had  entered  the  town, 
and  were  saccessfully  working  their  w-ay  towards  the  principal 
plaza.  I  then  ordered  up  the  Second  Regiment  of  Texas  mounted 
volunteers,  who  entered  the  city,  dismounted,  and,  under  the  imme- 
diate orders  of  Gen.  Henderson,  co-operated  with  Gen.  Quitman's 
brigade.  Capt,  Bragg's  battery  was  also  ordered  up,  and  sup- 
ported by  the  Third  Infantry  ;  and,  after  firing  for  some  time  at 
the  cathedral,  a  portion  of  it  was  likewise  thrown  into  the  city. 

'*  Our  troops  advanced  from  house  to  house,  and  from  square  to 
square,  until  they  reached  a  street  but  one  square  in  rear  of  the 
principal  plaza,  in  and  near  which  the  enemy's  force  was  mainly 
concentrated.  This  advance  was  conducted  vigorously,  but  with 
due  caution,  and,  although  destructive  to  the  enemy,  was  attended 
with  but  small  loss  upon  our  part." 

In  the  mean  time,  American  batteries  were  throwing  shot  and 
shell  into  the  city,  until  the  fire  endangered  our  own  advancing 
troops.  As  Quitman's  brigade  was  exceedingly  exhausted,  and 
night  was  drawing  on.  Gen.  Taylor  ordered  them  to  withdraw  to 
the  safer  position  of  the  evacuated  works.  This  was  done  slowly, 
and  in  good  order.  At  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  he  received  a  note 
from  Gen.  Worth,  stating  that  he  had  penetrated  the  city  almost 
to  the  central  plaza,  and  that  a  mortar  which  had  been  forwarded 
to  his  division  in  the  morning  was  doing  great  execution. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  Thursday,  the  2ith,  Gen.  Taylor  re- 
ceived a  despatch  from  the  Mexican  general,  Ampudia,  proposing 
to  evacuate  the  town.  This  led  to  a  cessation  of  fire  until  twelve 
o'clock.  A  personal  interview  took  place  between  the  two  gen- 
erals, Taylor  and  Ampudia,  which  resulted  in  a  capitulation.  The 
town  and  its  material  of  war  were  placed  in  possession  of  the  vic- 
tor. The  city  was  found  to  be  very  strongly  fortified.  Its  well- 
constructed  works  were  armed  with  forty-two  pieces  of  cannon, 


318  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

and  well  supplied  with  ammunition.  Our  loss  was  very  severe. 
Twelve  officers  and  one  hundred  and  eight  men  were  killed. 
Thirty-one  officers  and  three  hundred  and  thirty-seven  men  were 
wounded.  The  loss  of  the  enemy  is  not  known  ;  but  it  must  have 
been  dreadful,  as  our  balls  and  shells  tore  through  their  streets 
and  dwellings. 

An  eye-w'itness  thus  describes  the  appearance,  as  our  troops 
were  in  the  distance  storming  one  of  the  heights :  "  Each  flash 
looked  like  an  electric  spark.  The  flashes  and  the  white  smoke 
ascended  the  hillside  as  steadily  as  if  worked  by  machinery.  The 
dark  space  between  the  apex  of  the  height  and  the  curling  smoke 
of  the  musketry  grew  less  and  less,  until  the  whole  became  envel- 
oped in  smoke,  and  we  knew  that  our  gallant  troops  had  carried 
it.  It  was  a  glorious  sight,  and  quite  warmed  our  cold  and  chilled 
bodies." 

Gen.  Worth's  division  had  left  camp  with  only  two  days'  ra- 
tions, and  much  of  this  was  spoiled  by  the  rain;  yet  they  climbed 
these  clifis  and  charged  these  batteries  for  forty-eight  hours, 
many  of  them  without  any  food  except  raw  corn. 

Gen.  Taylor,  consolidating  his  strength  at  Monterey,  sent  out 
divisions  of  his  army  to  occupy  important  posts  in  the  vicinity. 
Santa  Anna  was  commander-in-chief  of  the  Mexican  armies,  lie 
collected  twenty  thousand  men  at  San  Luis  Potosi,  a  city  of  four 
thousand  inhabitants,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  south  of 
Monterey.  Gen.  Scott  was  placed  in  command  of  all  the  land- 
forces  in  Mexico.  As  he  was  preparing  to  advance  upon  the  city 
of  Mexico  by  the  way  of  Vera  Cruz,  nearly  all  of  Gen.  Taylor's 
forces  were  withdrawn  from  him.  For  five  months.  Gen.  Taylor 
remained  in  Monterey,  with  merely  sufficient  men  to  garrison  his 
defensive  works;  but  in  February,  having  received  re-enforce- 
ments which  raised  his  army  to  six  thousand  men,  he  commenced 
a  forward  movement.  When  about  fifty  miles  south  of  Monterey, 
he  learned  that  Santa  Anna  was  rapidly  advancing  upon  him  with 
twenty  thousand  men.  To  meet  such  a  force  with  but  five  thou- 
sand, it  was  necessary  that  Gen.  Taylor  should  have  every  possi- 
ble advantage  of  position.  He  found  a  field  such  as  he  desired, 
on  a  plateau,  a  short  distance  from  the  small  hamlet  of  Buena 
Yista.  Having  posted  his  little  band  to  the  best  possible  advan- 
tage, Gen.  Taylor,  with  his  stafl',  stood  upon  an  eminence  at  a  little 
distance,  from  which  he  could  see  the  clouds  of  dust  raised  by  the 


1^  =- 


fe 


M 

^ 


ZACHARY    TAYLOR.  319 

immense  host  advancing  against  him.  Onward  the  vast  throng 
pressed,  in  numbers  which  seemed  almost  countless,  until  the  band 
of  Americans  was  nearly  surrounded.  Anxiously  his  staff  looked 
into  the  general's  face  ;  but  no  sign  of  faltering  or  agitation  could 
be  perceived. 

Just  then,  a  Mexican  messenger  was  seen  nearing  the  outposts 
with  a  flag  of  truce.  It  was  a  summons  to  surrender,  with  the 
assurance  that  twenty  thousand  Mexicans  were  in  Gen.  Taylor's 
front  and  rear. 

"  Were  they  twice  that  number,"  Gen.  Taylor  quietly  remarked 
to  the  officers  around  him,  "  it  would  make  no  diflerence." 

He  then  returned  the  modest  answer  to  Santa  Anna,  "  Gen. 
Taylor  never  surrenders."  As  he  rode  along  his  ranks,  he  said  to 
his  troops,  ''  Soldiers,  I  intend  to  stand  here  not  only  so  long  as  a 
man  remains,  but  so  long  as  apiece  of  a  man  is  left."  It  was  the 
22d  of  February,  1847.  The  battle  soon  commenced,  —  a  battle 
of  ten  hours'  duration.  In  the  midst  of  one  of  its  most  terrible 
scenes  of  tumult  and  carnage.  Gen.  Taylor  rode  up  to  a  battery 
which  was  dealing  destruction  in  the  ranks  of  the  foe,  and,  in 
tones  as  calm  as  if  he  were  sitting  by  his  camp-fire,  said,  ''A  little 
more  grape,  Capt.  Bragg."  At  the  close  of  the  day,  over  seven 
hundred  of  the  Americans  had  been  stricken  down  in  killed  and 
wounded,  and  about  two  thousand  of  the  Mexicans.  Often,  during 
the  eventful  day,  the  result  of  the  conflict  was  extremely  doubtful ; 
and,  when  night  closed  the  scene,  it  seemed  probable,  in  the 
American  camp,  that  the  dreadful  struggle  would  be  renewed  on 
the  morrow.  The  day  of  the  battle  was  wet  and  raw.  Our  ex- 
hausted troops,  drenched  and  chilled,  bivouacked  without  fires. 
^It  was  an  anxious  night ;  but  in  the  morning,  to  their  unspeakable 
relief,  they  found  that  the  Mexicans  had  fled.  This  ended  Gen. 
Taylor's  active  participation  in  the  Mexican  War. 

Seldom  has  a  battle  been  fought  in  which  the  troops  displayed 
more  gallant  conduct  than  was  exhibited  by  Gen.  Taylor's  army 
at  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista.  All  of  the  troops  were  volunteers, 
with  the  exception  of  about  five  hundred.  But  few  of  them  had 
been  with  Taylor  in  his  previous  victories,  and  many  of  them  had 
never  been  in  battle.  It  is  universally  admitted  that  the  victory 
was  owing,  not  merely  to  the  courage  and  patient  endurance  of 
the  troops,  but  also  to  the  military  skill  of  their  commander. 
Three  several  times  during  the  day,  the  battle,  on  our  part,  seemed 


320  UVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

hopelesdy  lost.  The  Mexicans  were  so  superior  in  numbers,  that 
they  could  easily  concentrate  an  overpowering*  force  at  any  point. 
With  most  painful  interest,  Gen.  Taylor  watched  the  movements 
in  various  parts  of  the  field,  as  he  despatched  re-enforcements,  now 
in  one  direction  and  now  in  another,  to  strengthen  his  exhausted 
and  wavering  lines. 

At  one  time,  the  Second  Kentucky  Regiment  was  despatched  to 
the  aid  of  a  column,  which  was  slowly  giving  way  before  the  tre- 
mendous pressure  of  the  foe.  In  hurrying  to  their  relief,  the 
regiment  was  compelled  to  pass  through  a  ravine  filled  with 
gullies  and  obstructions.  In  their  eagerness  in  pressing  forward, 
and  surmounting  these  diflSculties,  they,  of  couij-se,  became  broken, 
and  presented  an  aspect  of  confusion  and  disorder.  Gen.  Taylor, 
who  was  eagerly  watching  them  in  the  distance,  was  bitterly  dis- 
appointed at  this  apparent  failure  of  troops  upon  whom  he  had 
placed  great  reliance.  Turning  sadly  to  ilr.  Crittenden,  who 
stood  near,  he  said, — 

"■  This  will  not  do.  This  is  not  the  way  for  Kentuckians  to 
behave  themselves." 

Mr.  Crittenden  was  also  so  mortified,  and  felt  so  deeply  for  the 
honor  of  his  native  State,  that,  for  a  few  moments,  he  could  make 
no  repl}'.  But  soon  the  Kentuckians  had  crossed  the  rugged 
chasm,  and  were  seen  ascending  the  slope  to  the  higher  land 
beyond,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  like  the  veterans  of  a  hundred  bat- 
tles. The  general  could  scarcely  restrain  his  expressions  of  de- 
light, as  they  moved  rapidly  on  until  they  reached  the  crest  of  the 
hill.  Here  they  encountered  a  large  body  of  the  Mexicans,  rush- 
ing onward  with  shouts  of  exultation.  The  Kentuckians  levelled 
their  pieces,  and  poured  in  their  volleys  of  bullets  again  and 
again,  with  such  regularity,  precision,  and  rapidity  of  fire,  that 
the  Mexicans  recoiled,  staggered,  and  fled,  leaving  the  ground 
covered  with  their  dead. 

The  general,  with  a  throbbing  heart  and  a  moistened  eye,  but 
in  perfect  silence,  watched  this  movement  so  heroic,  and  its  re- 
sults so  decisive.  His  face  was  flushed  with  excitement,  aryi 
beamed  with  delight.  But  when  the  distant  report  of  the 
volleys  reached  his  ear,  and  he  saw  the  Mexicans  in  wild  flight, 
scattered  over  the  plain,  he  could  no  longer  restrain  his  admira- 
tion, but  shouted,  ''Hurrah  for  old  Kentucky  !  " 

A  distinguished  officer  in  the  army  thus  describes  the  appear- 
ance of  the  general  toward  the  close  of  the  conflict :  — 


ZACHART    TAYLOR.  321 

"At  a  time  when  the  fortunes  of  the  day  seemed  extremely 
problematical,  when  many  on  our  side  even  despaired  of  success, 
old  Rough  and  Ready,  as  he  is  not  inaptly  styled  (whom  you  must 
know,  by  the  by,  is  short,  fat,  and  dumpy  in  person,  with  re- 
markably short  legs),  took  his  position  on  a  commanding  height 
overlooking  the  two  armies.  This  was  about  three,  or  perhaps 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  enemy,  who  had  succeeded  in 
gaining  an  advantageous  position,  made  a  fierce  charge  upon  our 
column,  and  fought  with  a  desperation  that  seemed,  for  a  time,  to 
insure  success  to  their  arms.  The  struggle  lasted  for  some  time. 
All  the  while.  Gen.  Taylor  was  a  silent  spectator ;  his  countenance 
exhibiting  the  most  anxious  solicitude,  alternating  between  hope 
and  despondency.  His  staff,  perceiving  his  perilous  situation, — 
for  he  was  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  —  approached  him,  and 
implored  him  to  retire.  He  heeded  them  not.  His  thoughts  were 
intent  upon  victory  or  defeat.  He  knew  not  at  this  moment  what 
the  result  would  be.  He  felt  that  that  engagement  was  to  decide 
his  fate.  He  had  given  all  his  orders,  and  selected  his  position. 
If  the  day  went  against  him,  he  was  irretrievably  lost ;  if  for  him, 
he  could  rejoice,  in  common  with  his  countrymen,  at  the  trium- 
phant success  of  our  arms. 

"  Such  seemed  to  be  his  thoughts,  his  determination ;  and  when 
he  saw  the  enemy  give  way,  and  retreat  in  the  utmost  confusion, 
he  gave  free  vent  to  his  pent-up  feelings.  His  right  leg  was 
quickly  disengaged  from  the  pommel  of  the  saddle,  where  it  had 
remained  during  the  whole  of  the  fierce  encounter ;  his  arms, 
which  were  calmly  folded  over  his  breast,  relaxed  their  hold ;  his 
feet  fairly  danced  in  the  stirrups ;  and  his  whole  body  was  in 
motion.  It  was  a  moment  of  the  most  exciting  and  intense 
interest.  His  face  was  suffused  with  tears.  The  day  was  won ; 
the  victory  complete ;  his  little  army  saved  from  defeat  and  dis- 
grace; and  he  could  not  refrain  from  weeping  for  joy  at  what  had 
seemed  to  so  many,  but  a  moment  before,  as  an  impossible  result." 

The  tidings  of  the  brilliant  victory  of  Buena  Vista  spread  the 
wildest  enthusiasm  over  the  country.  The  name  of  Gen.  Taylor 
was  on  every  one's  lips.  The  Whig  party  decided  to  take  advan- 
tage of  this  wonderful  popularity  in  bringing  forward  the  unpol- 
ished, unlettered,  honest  soldier  as  their  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency. Gen.  Taylor  was  astonished  at  the  announcement,  and  for 
a  time  would  not  listen  to  it ;  declaring  that  he  was  not  at  all  quali- 

41 


322  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

fied  for  such  an  office.  So  little  interest  had  he  taken  in  politics 
that,  for  forty  years,  he  had  not  cast  a  vote.  It  was  not  without 
chagrin  that  several  distinguished  statesmen  who  had  been  long 
years  in  the  public  service  found  their  claims  set  aside  in  behalf  of 
one  whose  name  had  never  been  heard  of,  save  in  connection  with 
Palo  Alto,  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  Monterey,  and  Bueua  Yista.  It  is 
said  that  Daniel  Webster,  in  his  haste,  remarked,  "  It  is  a  nomina^ 
tion  not  fit  to  be  made," 

Gen.  Taylor  was  not  an  eloquent  speaker  or  a  fine  writer.  His 
friends  took  possession  of  him,  and  prepared  such  few  communica- 
tions as  it  was  needful  should  be  presented  to  the  public.  The 
popularity  of  the  successful  warrior  swept  the  land.  He  was 
triumphantly  elected  over  two  opposing  candidates,  —  Gen.  Cass, 
and  the  Ex-President,  Martin  Van  Buren.  Though  he  selected  an 
excellent  cabinet,  the  good  old  man  found  himself  in  a  very  uncon- 
genial position,  and  was,  at  times,  sorely  perplexed  and  harassed. 
His  mental  sufi"erings  were  very  severe,  and  probably  tended  to 
hasten  his  death.  The  proslavery  party  was  pushing  its  claims 
with  tireless  energy  ;  expeditions  were  fitting  out  to  capture  Cuba  ; 
California  was  pleading  for  admission  to  the  Union,  while  slavery 
stood  at  the  door  to  bar  her  out.  Gen.  Taylor  found  the  political 
conflicts  in  Washington  to  be  far  more  trying  to  the  nerves  than 
battles  with  Mexicans  or  Indians. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  troubles.  Gen.  Taylor,  after  he  had 
occupied  the  presidential  chair  but  little  over  a  year,  took  cold, 
and,  after  a  brief  sickness  of  but  five  days,  died  on  the  9th  of 
July,  1850.  His  last  words  were,  "  I  am  not  afraid  to  die.  I  am 
ready.  I  have  endeavored  to  do  my  duty."  He  died  universally 
respected  and  beloved.  An  honest,  unpretending  man,  he  had 
been  steadily  growing  in  the  aflfectiovis  of  the  people;  and  the 
nation  bitterly  lamented  his  death.  All  assented  to  the  general 
truthfulness  of  the  following  eulogy,  pronounced  by  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Marshall :  — 

"  Great,  without  pride  ;  cautious,  without  fear;  brave,  without 
rashness ;  stern,  without  harshness  ;  modest,  without  bashfulness  ; 
apt,  without  flippancy  ;  sagacious,  without  cunning  ;  benevolent, 
without  ostentation ;  sincere  and  honest  as  the  sun,  —  the  noble  old 
Roman  has,  at  last,  laid  down  his  earthly  harness :  his  task  is 
done." 

Gen.  Scott,  who  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  Gen.  Taylor, 


Z  A  CHARY    TAYLOR.  323 

gives  the  following  graphic  and  truthful  description  of  his  char- 
acter:— 

"  "With  a  good  store  of  common  sense,  Gen.  Taylor's  mind  had 
not  been  enlarged  and  refreshed  by  reading,  or  muck  converse 
with  the  world.  Rigidity  of  ideas  was  the  consequence.  The 
frontiers  and  small  military  posts  had  been  his  home.  Hence  he 
was  quite  ignorant  for  his  rank,  and  quite  bigoted  in  his  ignorance. 
His  simplicity  was  child-like,  and  with  innumerable  prejudices, 
amusing  and  incorrigible,  well  suited  to  the  tender  age.  Thus,  if 
a  man,  however  respectable,  chanced  to  wear  a  coat  of  an  unusual 
color,  or  his  hat  a  little  on  one  side  of  the  head ;  or  an  officer  to 
leave  a  corner  of  his  handkerchief  dangling  from  an  outside  pocket, 
—  in  any  such  case,  this  critic  held  the  offender  to  be  a  coxcomb 
(perhaps  something  worse),  whom  he  would  not,  to  use  his  oft- 
repeated  phrase,  '  touch  with  a  pair  of  tongs.' 

"Any  allusion  to  literature  beyond  good  old  Dilworth's  Spelling- 
book,  on  the  part  of  one  wearing  a  sword,  was  evidence,  with  the 
same  judge,  of  utter  unfitness  for  heavy  marchings  and  combats. 
In  short,  few  men  have  ever  had  a  more  comfortable,  labor-saving 
contempt  for  learning  of  every  kind.  Yet  this  old  soldier  and 
neophyte  statesman  had  the  true  basis  of  a  great  character, — 
pure,  uncorrupted  morals,  combined  with  indomitable  courage. 
Kind-hearted,  sincere,  and  hospitable  in  a  plain  way,  he  had  no 
vice  but  prejudice,  many  friends,  and  left  behind  him  not  an 
enemy  in  the  world." 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

MILLARD      FILLMORE. 

His  lowly  Birth.  —  Struggles  with  Adversity.  —  Limited  Education.  —  Eagerness  for  Intel- 
lectual Improvement.  —  A  Clothier.  —  A  Law-student.  —  Commencement  of  Practice.  — 
Rapid  Rise.  —  Political  Life.  —  la  Congress.  —  Vice-President.  —  President.  —  His 
Administration.  —  Retirement.  —  The  Civil  War. 

Millard   Fillmore,  the   thirteenth   President  of  the   United 
States,   was   born   at   Summer   Hill,   Cayuga  County,  N.Y.,    on 


—  ^i/ss:iZiL^  sc 


RESIDENCE  OF  MILI^\.KD   FILLMORE. 


the  7th  of  January,  1800.  His  father  was  a  farmer,  and,  owing 
to  misfortune,  in  humble  circumstances.  Of  his  mother,  the 
daughter  of  Dr.  Abiathar  Millard  of  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  it  has  been 
said  that  she  possessed  an  intellect  of  very  high  order,  united  with 


324 


MILLARD  FILLMORE.  325 

much  personal  loveliness,  sweetness  of  disposition,  graceful  man- 
ners, and  exquisite  sensibilities.  She  died  in  1831 ;  having  lived 
to  see  her  son  a  young  man  of  distinguished  promise,  though  she 
was  not  permitted  to  witness  the  high  dignity  wliich  he  finally 
attained. 

In  consequence  of  the  secluded  home  and  limited  means  of  his 
father,  Millard  enjoyed  but  slender  advantages  for  education  in  his 
early  years.  The  common  schools,  which  he  occasionally  attended, 
were  very  imperfect  institutions  ;  and  books  were  scarce  and  ex- 
pensive. There  was  nothing  then  in  his  character  to  indicate  the 
brilliant  career  upon  which  he  was  about  to  enter.  He  was  a 
plain  farmer's  boy ;  intelhgent,  good-looking,  kind-hearted.  The 
sacred  influences  of  home  had  taught  him  to  revere  the  Bible,  and 
had  laid  the  foundations  of  an  upright  character.  When  fourteen 
years  of  age,  his  father  sent  him  some  hundred  miles  from  home, 
to  the  then  wilds  of  Livingston  County,  to  learn  the  trade  of  a, 
clothier.  Near  the  mill  there  was  a  small  village,  where  some 
enterprising  man  had  commenced  the  collection  of  a  village 
library.  This  proved  an  inestimable  blessing  to  young  Fillmore. 
His  evenings  were  spent  in  reading.  Soon  every  leisure  moment 
was  occupied  with  books.  His  thirst  for  knowledge  became  insa- 
tiate ;  and  the  selections  which  he  made  were  continually  more 
elevating  and  instructive.  He  read  history,  biography,  oratory ; 
and  thus  gradually  there  was  enkindling  in  his  heart  a  desire  to 
be  something  more  than  a  mere  worker  with  his  hands  ;  and  he 
was  becoming,  almost  unknown  to  himself,  a  well-informed, 
educated  man. 

This  intellectual  culture  of  necessity  pervaded  his  whole  being. 
It  beamed  forth  from  his  countenance  ;  it  inspired  his  words ;  it 
placed  its  impress  of  dignity  and  refinement  upon  his  manners. 
The  young  clothier  had  now  attained  the  age  of  nineteen  years, 
and  was  of  fine  personal  appearance  and  of  gentlemanly  demeanor. 
It  so  happened  that  there  was  a  gentleman  in  the  neighborhood  of 
ample  pecuniary  means  and  of  benevolence,  — Judge  Walter  Wood, 
—  who  was  struck  with  the  prepossessing  appearance  of  young 
Fillmore.  He  made  his  acquaintance,  and  was  so  much  impressed 
with  his  ability  and  attainments,  that  he  advised  him  to  abandon 
his  trade,  and  devote  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law.  The  young 
man  replied,  that  he  had  no  means  of  his  own,  no  friends  to  help 
him,  and  that  his  previous  education  had  been  very  imperfect.    But 


326  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Judge  Wood  had  so  much  confidence  in  him,  that  he  kindly  ofi'ered 
to  take  him  into  his  own  office,  and  to  loan  him  such  money  as  he 
needed.     Most  gratefully,  the  generous  ofTer  was  accepted. 

There  is  in  many  minds  a  strange  delusion  about  a  collegiate 
education.  A  young  man  is  supposed  to  be  liberally  educated  if 
he  has  graduated  at  some  college.  But  many  a  boy  loiters  through 
university  halls,  and  then  enters  a  law-office,  who  is  by  no  means 
as  well  prepared  to  prosecute  his  legal  studies  as  was  Millard 
Fillmore  when  he  graduated  at  the  clothing-mill  at  the  end  of 
four  years  of  manual  labor,  during  which  every  leisure  moment 
had  been  devoted  to  intense  mental  culture. 

Young  Fillmore  was  now  established  in  the  law-office.  The 
purity  of  his  character,  the  ardor  of  his  zeal,  his  physical  health, 
and  his  native  abilities,  all  combined  to  bear  him  triumphantly 
forward  in  his  studies.  That  he  might  not  be  burdened  with  debt, 
and  that  he  might  not  bear  too  heavily  on  the  generosity  of  his 
benefactor,  he,  during  the  winter  months,  taught  school,  and,  in 
various  other  ways,  helped  himself  along.  After  spending  two 
years  in  this  retired  country  village,  he  went  to  the  city  of  Buffalo, 
and  entered  a  law-office  there,  where  he  could  enjoy  the  highest 
advantages.  Here,  for  two  years  more,  he  pressed  onward  in  his 
studies  with  untiring  zeal ;  at  the  same  time,  supporting  himself 
mainly  by  teaching. 

In  1823,  when  twenty-three  years  of  age,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  He  then  went  to  the  beautiful 
little  village  of  Aurora,  situated  on  the  eastern  banks  of  Cayuga 
Lake,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law.  In  this  secluded, 
peaceful  region,  his  practice,  of  course,  was  limited,  and  there  was 
no  opportunity  for  a  sudden  rise  in  fortune  or  in  fame.  Here,  in  the 
year  182u,  he  married  a  lady  of  great  moral  worth,  and  one  capable 
of  adorning  any  station  she  might  be  called  to  fill,  —  Miss  Abigail 
Powers,  daughter  of  Rev.  Lemuel  Powers.  In  this  quiet  home  of 
rural  peace  and  loveliness,  Mr.  Fillmore  continued  to  devote  him- 
self to  juridical  studies,  and  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  law. 
as  if  he  had  been  conscious  of  the  exalted  destiny  Avhich  was  be- 
fore him.  Probably  no  portion  of  his  life  was  more  happy  than 
these  serene,  untroubled  hours. 

But  true  merit  cannot  long  be  concealed.  His  elevation  of 
character,  his  untiring  industry,  his  legal  acquirements,  and  his 
skill  as  an  advocate,  gradually  attracted  attention ;  and  he  was  in- 


MILLARD  FILLMORE.  327 

vited  to  enter  into  partnership,  under  highly  advantageous  circum- 
stances, with  an  elder  member  of  the  bar  in  Buffalo.  Just  before 
removing  to  Buffalo,  in  1829,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  York,  as  representative  from  Erie 
County.  Though  he  had  never  taken  a  very  active  part  in 
politics,  his  vote  and  his  sympathies  were  with  the  Whig  party. 
The  State  was  then  Democratic,  and  he  found  himself  in  a  helpless 
minority  in  the  Legislature  :  still  the  testimony  comes  from  all 
parties,  that  his  courtesy,  ability,  and  integrity,  won,  to  a  very  un- 
usual degree,  the  respect  of  his  associates.  To  the  important  bill 
for  abolishing  imprisonment  for  debt  he  gave  his  earnest  and  elo- 
quent co-operation,  speaking  upon  the  subject  with  convincing 
power. 

The  State  Legislature  is  not  unfrequently  the  entrance-door 
to  the  National  Congress.  After  discharging,  with  great  accept- 
ance to  his  Whig  constituents,  his  responsibihties  in  the  House 
of  Assembly  for  three  years,  he  was,  in  the  autumn  of  1832, 
elected  to  a  seat  in  the  United-States  Congress.  He  entered 
that  troubled  arena  in  some  of  the  most  tumultuous  hours  of 
our  national  history.  The  great  conflict  respecting  the  National 
Bank,  and  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  was  then  raging.  Expe- 
rienced leaders,  veterans  in  Congressional  battles,  led  the  con- 
tending hosts.  There  vas  but  little  opportunity  for  a  new-comer 
to  distinguish  himself.  In  this  battle  of  the  giants,  Mr.  Fillmore 
could  do  but  little  more  than  look  on,  study  the  scene,  garner 
wisdom,  watch  his  opportunity,  and  cast  his  silent  vote. 

His  term  of  two  years  closed;  and  he  returned  to  his  profession, 
which  he  pursued  with  increasing  reputation  and  success.  After 
the  lapse  of  two  years,  he  again  became  a  candidate  for  Congress  ; 
was  re-elected,  and  took  his  seat  in  1837.  His  past  experience 
as  a  representative  gave  him  strength  and  confidence.  The  first 
term  of  service  in  Congress  to  any  man  can  be  but  little  more 
than  an  introduction.  He  was  now  prepared  for  active  duty. 
All  his  energies  were  brought  to  bear  upon  the  public  good. 
Every  measure  received  his  impress.  The  industry  and  the 
intensity  with  which  he  applied  himself  to  his  Congressional 
duties  were  characteristic  of  the  man,  and  have,  perhaps,  never 
been  surpassed. 

His  reputation  now  began  to  be  national.  The  labors  which 
devolved  upon  him  were  more  arduous  than  can  well  be  conceived 


328  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

of  by  one  who  has  not  been  in  the  same  situation.  To  draught 
resolutions  in  the  committee-room,  and  then  to  defend  them 
against  the  most  skilful  opponents  on  the  floor  of  the  House, 
requires  readiness  of  mind,  mental  resources,  and  skill  in  debate, 
such  as  few  possess.  Weary  with  these  exhausting  labors,  and 
pressed  by  the  claims  of  his  private  affairs,  Mr.  Fillmore,  just 
before  the  close  of  the  session,  wrote  a  letter  to  his  constituents, 
declining  to  be  a  candidate  for  re-election.  Notwithstanding  this 
communication,  his  friends  met  in  convention,  and  unanimously, 
and  by  acclamation,  renominated  him,  with  the  most  earnest 
expression  of  their  desire  that  he  would  comply  with  their  wishes. 
Though  greatly  gratified  by  this  proof  of  their  appreciation  of 
his  labors,  he  adhered  to  his  resolve ;  and,  at  the  close  of  the 
term  for  which  he  was  elected,  he  returned  to  his  home,  rejoicing 
at  his  release  from  the  agitating  cares  of  oflBcial  life. 

Mr.  Fillmore  was  now  a  man  of  wide  repute,  and  his  popularity 
filled  the  State.  The  lines  between  the  two  parties,  the  Whig 
aiid  Democratic,  were  strongly  drawn;  and  the  issues  involved 
excited  the  community  to  the  highest  degree.  The  Whig  party 
brought  forward  Mr.  Fillmore  as  the  strongest  candidate  whom 
they  could  present  for  the  office  of  governor.  The  canvass  was 
one  of  the  most  exciting  which  had  ever  agitated  the  State,  and 
the  Whig  party  was  signally  defeated.  In  the  year  1847,  he  was 
elected,  by  a  very  great  majority,  to  the  very  important  office 
of  comptroller  of  the  State.  Many  who  were  not  with  him  in 
political  principles  gave  him  their  vote,  from  their  conviction 
of  his  eminent  fitness  for  that  office. 

In  entering  upon  the  responsible  duties  which  this  situation 
demanded,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  abandon  his  profession, 
and,  sundering  those  social  ties  which  bound  him  to  his  numerous 
friends  in  Buffalo,  to  remove  to  the  city  of  Albany.  It  was  uni- 
versally admitted  that  the  duties  of  this  office  were  never  more 
faithfully  discharged. 

Mr.  Fillmore  had  attained  the  age  of  forty-seven  years.  His 
labors  at  the  bar,  in  the  Legislature,  in  Congress,  and  as  comp- 
troller, had  given  him  very  considerable  fame.  The  Whigs  were 
casting;  about  to  find  suitable  candidates  for  President  and  Vice- 
President  at  the  approaching  election.  Far  away,  on  the  waters 
of  tlie  Rio  Grande,  there  was  a  rough  old  soldier,  who  had  fought 
one   or   two   successful  battles  with   the    Mexicans,    which   had 


MILLARD  FILLMORE.  329 

caused  his  name  to  be  proclaimed  in  trumpet-tones  all  over  the 
land.  He  was  an  unpolished,  unlettered  man,  entirely  inexpe- 
rienced in  all  statesmanlike  accomplishments  ;  but  he  was  a  man 
of  firmness,  of  uncompromising  integrity,  and  of  sound  common 
sense  and  practical  wisdom.  He  was  an  available  man;  for 
"  Palo  Alto  "  and  "  Resaca  de  la  Palma  "  would  ring  pleasantly 
upon  the  popular  ear,  and  catch  the  popular  vote.  But  it  was 
necessary  to  associate  with  him  on  the  same  ticket  some  man  of 
reputation  as  a  statesman,  and  in  whose  intellectual  powers  and 
varied  experience  the  community  might  repose  confidence. 

Under  the  influence  of  these  considerations,  the  names  of 
Zachary  Taylor  and  Millard  Fillmore  became  the  rallying-cry 
of  the  Whigs  as  their  candidates  for  President  and  Vice-President. 
The  Whig  ticket  was  signally  triumphant.  On  the  4th  of  March, 
1849,  Gen.  Taylor  was  inaugurated  President,  and  Millard  Fill- 
more Vice-President,  of  the  United  States.  He  was  admirably 
adapted  for  this  position.  His  tall,  well-proportioned,  manly  form, 
and  the  natural  dignity  and  grace  of  his  bearing,  gave  him  an 
imposing  presence.  His  mind,  originally  of  a  high  order,  and 
disciplined  by  the  laborious  culture  of  years,  enabled  him 
promptly  and  successfully  to  meet  every  intellectual  emergency. 
His  countenance  gave  expression  to  those  traits  of  firmness, 
gentleness,  and  conscientiousness,  which  marked  his  character. 

The  stormy  days  of  the  Republic  were  now  at  hand.  The  great 
question  of  slavery  was  permeating  every  subject  which  was 
brought  before  Congress,  shaping  the  whole  legislation  of  the 
country,  arousing  fiery  debate,  arraying  parties  in  hostile  lines 
in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House,  and  agitating  as  with  earth- 
quake-throes every  city  and  village  in  the  Union.  It  was  evident 
that  the  strength  of  our  institutions  was  soon  to  be  severely 
tried.  John  C.  Calhoun,  when  President  of  the  Senate,  had 
taken  the  position,  that  he  had  no  power  to  call  a  senator  to 
order  for  words,  however  intemperate,  when  spoken  in  debate. 
Vice-President  Fillmore,  upon  taking  his  chair  as  presiding  officer 
over  that  august  body,  announced  to  the  Senate  his  determination 
tion  to  maintain  decorum  in  that  chamber,  and  that  he  should 
promptly  call  senators  to  order  for  any  ofi'ensive  words  which 
might  be  spoken.  The  Senate  manifested  its  approval  of  this 
decision  by  unanimously  ordering  the  views  thus  expressed  to 
be  entered  upon  their  journal. 

42 


330 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDEXTS. 


On  the  9th  of  July,  1850,  President  Taylor,  but  about  one  year 
and  four  montlis  after  his  inauguration,  was  suddenly  taken  sick, 
and  died.  By  the  Constitution,  Vice-President  Fillmore  thus 
became  President  of  the  United  States.  He  appointed  a  very 
able  cabinet,  of  which  the  illustrious  Daniel  Webster  was  Secre- 
tary of  State.  The  agitated  condition  of  the  country  brought 
questions  of  very  great  delicacy  before  him.  He  was  bound  by 
his  oath  of  office  to  execute  tlie  laws  of  the  United  States.  One 
of  those  laws  was  understood  to  be,  that  if  a  slave,  escaping  from 


THE   CXITED-STATES   SENATE. 


bondage,  should  reach  a  free  State,  the  United  States  was  bound 
to  help  catch  him,  and  return  him  to  his  master.  Most  Christian 
men  loathed  this  law.  President  Fillmore  felt  bound  by  his 
oath  rigidly  to  see  it  enforced.  Slavery  was  organizing  armies 
to  invade  Cuba,  as  it  had  invaded  Texas,  and  annex  it  to  the 
United  States.  President  Fillmore  gave  all  the  influence  of  his 
exalted  station  against  the  atrocious  enterprise.  The  illustrious 
Hungarian,  Kossuth,  visited  our  shores,  and  was  cordially  re- 
ceived l>v  the  President ;  while  he  frankly  informed  liim  that  it 


MILLARD  FILLMORE.  331 

was  the  policy  of  our  Government  to  avoid  all  complications  in 
European  affairs. 

Mr.  Fillmore  had  very  serious  difSculties  to  contend  with,  since 
the  opposition  had  a  majority  in  both  Houses.  He  did  every 
thing  in  his  power  to  conciliate  t'.ie  South  ;  but  the  proslavery 
part}^  in  the  South  felt  the  inadequacy  of  all  measures  of  transient 
conciliation.  The  population  of  the  free  States  was  so  rapidly 
increasing  over  that  of  the  slave  States,  that  it  was  inevitable  that 
the  power  of  the  Government  should  soon  pass  into  the  hands  of 
the  free  States.  The  famous  compromise-measures  were  adopted 
under  Mr.  Fillmore's  administration,  and  the  Japan  Expedition 
was  sent  out. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1853,  Mr.  Fillmore,  having  served  one 
term,  retired  from  office.  He  then  took  a  long  tour  throughout 
the  South,  where  he  met  with  quite  an  enthusiastic  reception. 
In  a  speech  at  Vicksburg,  alluding  to  the  rapid  growth  of  the 
country,  he  said,  — 

''  Canada  is  knocking  for  admission,  and  Mexico  would  be  glad 
to  come  in  ;  and,  without  saying  whether  it  would  be  right  or 
wrong,  we  stand  with  open  arms  to  receive  them  :  for  it  is  the 
manifest  destiny  of  this  Government  to  embrace  the  whole  North- 
American  continent." 

In  1855,  President  Fillmore  went  to  Europe,  where  he  was 
received  with  those  marked  attentions  which  his  position  and 
character  merited.  Returning  to  this  country  in  1856,  he  was 
nominated  for  the  presidency  by  the  strangely  called  ''  Know- 
Nothing"  party.  Mr.  Buchanan,  the  Democratic  candidate,  was 
the  successful  competitor  for  the  prize.  Since  then,  Mr.  Fillmore 
has  lived  in  retirement.  During  the  terrible  conflict  of  civil  war, 
he  was  mostly  silent.  It  was  generally  supposed  that  his  sympa- 
thies were  rather  with  those  who  were  endeavoring  to  overthrow 
our  institutions.  Edward  Everett,  who  had  been  a  candidate  for 
the  vice-presidency,  left  no  one  in  doubt  respecting  his  abhorrence 
of  the  Rebellion,  and  his  devotion  to  his  country's  flag.  Presi- 
dent Fillmore  kept  aloof  from  the  conflict,  without  any  cordial 
words  of  cheer  to  the  one  party  or  the  other.  He  was  thus  for- 
gotten by  both.  He  is  still  living  in  the  interior  of  New  York, 
in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 

Character  of  his  Father.  —  His  Promise  in  Boyhood.  —  College  Life. — Political  Views.-- 
Success  as  a  Lawyer.  —  Entrance  upon  Public  Life.  —  Service  in  the  Mexican  War.  -  • 
Landing  in  Mexico. —  March  through  the  Country. —  Incidents  of  the  March.  —  Anec- 
dotes.—  Nomination  for  the  Presidency.  —  Election.  —  Adramistration.  —  Retirement. 

Franklin  Pierce,   the    fourteenth    President  of   the  United 
States,  was   born  in   Hillsborough,  N.H.,   Nov.    23,    1804.     His 


<:^^\3i±^^  '^^7 


RESIDENCE   OF    FRANKLIN   PIERCE. 

father  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  who,  with  his  own  strong 
arm,  hewed  him  out  a  home  in  the  wilderness.  He  was  a  man  of 
inflexible  integrity ;  of  strong,  though  uncultivated  mind ;  and  an 
uncompromising  Democrat.     When,  under  the  administration  of 

332 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE.  ^  333 

John  Adams,  an  eflfort  was  made  to  draw  our  country  into  an 
alliance  with  England  in  her  war  against  the  French  republic, 
Major  Pierce,  as  his  title  then  was,  was  oifered  a  high  commission 
in  the  army  which  was  proposed  to  be  levied. 

''  No,  gentlemen,"  was  his  reply.  "  Poor  as  I  am,  and  acceptable 
as  would  be  the  position  under  other  circumstances,  I  would  sooner 
go  to  yonder  mountains,  dig  me  a  cave,  and  live  on  roast  potatoes, 
than  be  instrumental  in  promoting  the  objects  for  which  that 
army  is  raised." 

His  energetic  and  upright  character  and  commanding  abilities 
gave  him  great  influence  in  the  secluded  region  where  he  dwelt, 
and  he  occupied  nearly  every  post  of  honor  and  emolument  which 
his  neighbors  could  confer  upon  him.  He  was  for  several  years 
in  the  State  Legislature  ;  was  a  member  of  the  governor's  council, 
and  a  general  of  the  militia.  He  was  an  independent  farmer ;  a 
generous,  large-hearted,  hospitable  man.  The  mother  of  Franklin 
Pierce  was  all  that  a  son  could  desire,  —  an  intelligent,  prudent, 
affectionate.  Christian  woman.  Franklin  was  the  sixth  of  eight 
children. 

Old  Gen.  Pierce  was  a  politician,  ever  ready  for  argument; 
and  there  was  ample  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  his  powers 
in  those  days  of  intense  political  excitement,  when,  all  over  the 
New-England  States,  Federalists  and  Democrats  were  arrayed  so 
fiercely  against  each  other.  Franklin,  as  a  boy,  listened  eagerly 
to  the  arguments  of  his  father,  enforced  by  strong  and  ready 
utterance  and  earnest  gestures.  It  was  in  this  school  that  he 
was  led  to  ally  himself  with  the  Democratic  party  so  closely,  as  to 
be  ready  to  follow  Avherever  it  might  lead. 

Franklin  was  a  very  bright  and  handsome  boy,  generous,  warm- 
hearted, and  brave.  He  won  alike  the  love  of  old  and  young.  The 
boys  on  the  play-ground  loved  him.  His  teachers  loved  him.  The 
neighbors  looked  upon  him  with  pride  and  affection.  He  was  by 
instinct  a  gentleman;  always  speaking  kind  words,  doing  kind 
deeds,  with  a  peculiar  unstudied  tact  which  taught  him  Avhat  was 
agreeable.  Without  developing  any  precocity  of  genius,  or  any 
unnatural  devotion  to  books,  he  was  a  good  scholar ;  in  body,  in 
mind,  in  affections,  a  finely-developed  boy. 

When  sixteen  years  of  age,  in  the  year  1820,  he  entered  Bow- 
doin  College,  at  Brunswick,  Me.  The  writer  there  became  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  him.     He  was  one  of  the  most  popular 


334  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

young  men  in  college.  The  purity  of  his  moral  character,  the 
unvarying  courtesy  of  his  demeanor,  his  rank  as  a  scholar,  and  his 
genial  nature,  rendered  him  a  universal  favorite.  There  was 
something  very  peculiarly  winning  in  his  address,  and  it  was  evi- 
dently not  in  the  slightest  degree  studied :  it  was  the  simple  out- 
gushing  of  his  own  magnanimous  and  loving  nature. 

Upon  graduating,  in  the  year  1824,  Franklin  Pierce  commenced 
the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Judge  Woodbury,  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  lawyers  of  the  State,  and  a  man  of  great  pri- 
vate worth.  The  eminent  social  qualities  of  the  young  lawyer, 
his  father's  prominence  as  a  public  man,  and  the  brilliant  political 
career  into  which  Judge  Woodbury  was  entering,  all  tended  to 
entice  Mr.  Pierce  into  the  fascinating  yet  perilous  paths  of  politi- 
cal life.  With  all  the  ardor  of  his  nature,  he  espoused  the  cause 
of  Gen.  Jackson  for  the  presidency.  He  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  law  in  Hillsborough,  and  was  soon  elected  to  represent  the 
town  in  the  State  Legislature.  Here  he  served  for  four  years. 
The  two  last  years  he  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  house  by  a 
very  large  vote. 

In  1833,  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
Congress.  Without  taking  an  active  part  in  the  debates,  he  was 
faithful  and  laborious  in  duty,  and  ever  rising  in  the  estimation  of 
those  with  whom  he  was  associated.  Strenuously  he  supported 
the  administration  of  Gen.  Jackson,  securing  not  only  the  con- 
fidence, but  the  personal  friendship,  of  that  extraordinary  man. 
Mr.  Pierce  sympathized  in  the  fears  of  the  State-rights  party,  that 
the  National  Government  would  consolidate  so  much  power  as  to 
endanger  the  liberties  of  the  individual  States.  In  Congress,  he 
warmly  allied  himself  with  the  Democratic  party;  being  apparently 
in  sympathy  with  them  in  all  its  measures. 

In  1837,  being  then  but  thirty-three  years  of  age,  he  was  elected 
to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  ;  taking  his  seat  just  as  Mr.  Van 
Buren  commenced  his  administration.  He  was  the  youngest  mem- 
ber in  the  Senate.  The  ablest  men  our  country  has  produced 
were  then  among  the  leaders  of  the  Democracy,  —  Calhoun,  Bu- 
chanan, Benton.  Senator  Pierce  was  a  remarkably  fluent,  grace- 
ful speaker,  always  courteous  and  good-tempered ;  and  his  speeches 
were  listened  to  by  both  parties  with  interest.  In  the  year  1834, 
he  married  Miss  Jane  Means  Appleton,  a  lady  of  rare  beauty  and 
accomplishments,  and  one  admirably  fitted  to  adorn  every  station 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 


335 


with  which  her  husband  was  honored.     Of  three  sons  who  were 
born  to  them,  all  now  sleep  with  their  mother  in  the  grave. 

In  the  year  1838,  Mr.  Pierce,  with  growing  fame,  and  increasing 
business  as  a  lawyer,  took  up  his  residence  in  Concord,  the  capital 
of  New  Hampshire.  The  citizens  of  his  native  town,  in  token  of 
their  high  esteem,  gave  him  a  parting  dinner.  He  devoted  him- 
self with  new  zeal  to  his  duties  at  the  bar,  and  took  his  rank  at 
once  among  the  ablest  lawyers.  His  tact,  his  genial  spirit,  and 
his  unvarying  courtesy,  gave  him  extraordinary  power  with  a 
jury.  It  is  said  that  he  was  never  known  to  insult,  browbeat,  or 
endeavor  to  terrify,  a  witness. 


GEX.  FIERCE  LANDING  IN   MEXICO. 


President  Polk,  upon  his  accession  to  office,  appointed  Mr. 
Pierce  attorney-general  of  the  United  States ;  but  the  oiFer 
was  declined,  in  consequence  of  numerous  professional  engage- 
ments at  home,  and  the  precarious  state  of  Mrs.  Pierce's  health. 
He  also,  about  the  same  time,  declined  the  nomination  for  gover- 
nor by  the  Democratic  party.  The  war  with  Mexico  called  Mr. 
Pierce  into  the  army.     Receiving  the  appointment  of  brigadier- 


336  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

general,  he  embarked,  with  a  portion  of  his  troops,  at  Newport, 
R.L,  on  the  27th  of  May,  1847. 

Gen.  Pierce  landed  upon  a  sand-beach,  at  a  place  called  Yirgara, 
on  the  28th  of  June.  There  was  already  an  encampment  of  about 
five  hundred  men,  under  the  command  of  Major  Lally,  at  that 
place.  He  was  ordered  to  make  no  delay  there,  and  yet  no  prepa- 
rations had  been  made  for  his  departure.  About  two  thousand  wild 
mules  had  been  collected  from  the  prairies ;  but  a  stampede  had 
taken  place,  in  which  fifteen  hundred  had  disappeared.  He  was 
compelled  to  remain  for  several  weeks  in  this  encampment,  upon 
sand  as  smooth  as  a  floor,  and  so  hard,  that  it  would  scarcely  show 
the  footprints  of  a  mule.  For  three  miles,  the  waves  dashed 
magnificently  on  this  extensive  beach.  Though  the  mornings 
were  close,  and  the  heat  excessive,  by  eleven  o'clock  a  fine  sea- 
breeze  always  set  in.  There  were  frequent  tropical  showers,  in 
which  the  rain  fell  in  flxDods ;  and  there  were  peals  of  thunder 
such  as  are  rarely  heard,  and  flashes  of  lightning,  such  as  are,  per- 
haps, never  seen,  in  regions  farther  north. 

Every  morning,  the  troops  were  nnder  drill:  they  could  not 
bear  the  exposure  to  the  mid-day  sun.  Though  they  were  not  far 
from  the  city.  Gen.  Pierce  preferred  to  dwell  in  his  tent  upon  the 
beach,  rather  than  to  occupy  am^  of  the  houses.  Vigorous  meas- 
ures were  adopted  to  collect  mules  and  mustangs,  in  preparation 
for  their  advance.  These  animals  were  generally  caught  wild 
upon  the  prairies,  unaccustomed  to  the  harness,  and  even  to  the 
bridle.  Much  labor  was  required  in  taming  them,  and  in  breaking 
them  to  harness.  The_  troops  were  kept  constantly  on  the  alert, 
in  anticipation  of  an  attack  from  the  Mexicans. 

At  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  7th  of  July,  there  was  an 
alarm.  Musketry-firing  was  heard  in  the  direction  of  the  ad- 
vanced pickets.  The  long-roll  was  beaten,  and  the  whole  com- 
mand was  instantly  formed  in  line  of  battle.  It  proved  to  be  a 
false  alarm,  or  rather  was  caused  by  the  approach  of  a  small  band 
of  guerillas  to  the  vicinity  of  the  sentinels.  The  next  day,  July  9, 
Lieut.  Whipple  was  lured  by  curiosity  to  visit  the  cemetery, 
near  the  walls  of  tha  city.  Imprudently,  he  went  unarmed,  and 
accompanied  but  by  a  single  private.  Six  guerillas  attacked, 
overpowered,  and  seized  him ;  while  the  private  escaped,  and 
informed  Gen.  Pierce.  He  immediately  despatched  a  troop  of 
cavalry  in  pursuit ;  but  no  trace  of  Lieut.  Whipple  could  be  dis- 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE.  337 

covered.  In  a  few  days,  however,  they  learned  that  his  Hfe  had 
been  spared,  but  that  he  was  a  prisoner  about  twelve  miles  from 
the  camp.  A  detachment  was  sent  by  night  to  surprise  the  ban- 
ditti. They  took  the  village ;  but  the  guerillas  fled,  taking  their 
prisoner  with  them. 

At  length,  on  the  13th  of  July,  after  a  delay  of  nearly  three 
weeks,  and  after  great  labor  and  perplexity,  Gen.  Pierce  was  able 
to  give  orders  for  an  advance.  The  beautiful  beach  was  covered 
with  wagons,  mules,  horses,  and  all  the  imposing  paraphernalia 
of  war. 

On  the  morning  of  the  14th,  eighty  wagons  started,  under  Capt. 
Wood.  They  took  the  Jalapa  Road  for  San  Juan,  twelve  miles 
distant.  There  they  were  to  await  the  remainder  of  the  brigade. 
The  heat  was  so  intense,  that  they  could  not  move  between  the 
hours  of  nine  in  the  morning  and  four  in  the  afternoon.  Col. 
Ransom  accompanied  the  train  with  two  companies  of  infantry. 
Every  thing  being  ready,  they  moved  at  an  early  hour,  in  fine 
order  and  spirits.  The  next  day,  a  detachment  of  six  companies 
was  sent  off.  It  was  not  until  the  16th  that  Gen.  Pierce  was 
able  to  leave.     In  his  journal  he  writes, — 

"  After  much  perplexity  and  delay,  on  account  of  the  unbroken 
and  intractable  teams,  I  left  the  camp  this  afternoon  at  five  o'clock, 
with  the  Fourth  Artillery,  Watson's  marine  corps,  a  detachment 
of  the  third  dragoons,  and  about  forty  wagons.  The  road  was 
very  heavy,  the  wheels  were  sinking  almost  to  the  hubs  in  sand, 
and  the  untried  and  untamed  teams  almost  constantly  bolting  in 
some  part  of  the  train.  We  were  occupied  rather  in  breaking  the 
animals  to -harness  than  in  performing  a  march.  At  ten  o'clock 
at  night,  we  bivouacked  in  the  darkness  and  sand  by  the  wagons 
in  the  road,  having  made  but  three  miles  from  camp." 

The  next  morning,  at  four  o'clock,  they  were  again  on  the  move. 
The  road  was  still  heavy  with  sand,  leading  over  short,  steep  hills. 
At  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  they  reached  Santa  Fe,  but  eight 
miles  from  Vera  Cruz.  The  heat  of  a  blazing,  torrid  sun  was  now 
overpowering ;  and  the  army  remained  in  camp  until  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon.  Just  before  starting,  two  muleteers  came  in, 
greatly  agitated,  bringing  the  report  that  five  hundred  guerillas, 
armed  to  the  teeth,  were  on  the  Jalapa  Road,  rushing  on  to  attack 
the  camp.  The  whole  force  was  immediately  called  to  arms,  and 
two  pieces  of  artillery  placed  in  position  to  command  the  road.     It 

43 


338  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

either  proved  a  false  alarm,  or  the  guerillas,  taking  counsel  of 
discretion,  changed  their  course. 

Resuming  their  march  at  four  o'clock,  the  column  reached  San 
Juan  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  in  a  drenching  rain.  The 
guerillas  had  attempted  to  retard  the  march  by  destroying  a 
bridge  over  one  of  the  branches  of  the  San- Juan  River  ;  but  the 
New-England  men,  accustomed  to  every  variety  of  work,  almost 
without  delay  repaired  the  structure.  All  night,  all  the  next  day, 
and  the  next  night,  the  rain  poured  in  such  floods  as  are  nowhere 
seen,  save  in  the  tropics.  The  encampment  was  on  low  ground, 
along  the  margin  of  the  stream.  As  there  was  nothing  but  mud 
and  water  to  rest  in,  it  was  thought  best  to  continue  the  march. 

On  the  20th,  they  reached  Telema  Nueva,  twenty-four  miles 
from  Vera  Cruz.  As  they  were  marching  along,  several  musket- 
shots  were  fired  upon  them  from  an  eminence  on  their  left.  A 
few  round-shot  were  thrown  in  that  direction,  and  a  small  detach- 
ment dashed  up  the  hill ;  but  the  enemy  had  fled.  After  advancing 
about  a  mile  farther,  quite  a  number  of  mounted  Mexicans  were 
seen  hovering  about,  evidently  reconnoitring  parties.  As  it  was 
supposed  that  a  large  force  was  in  the  vicinity,  all  precautionary 
arrangements  were  made  to  repel  an  attack.  Three  companies  of 
infantry,  and  a  detachment  of  dragoons,  were  sent  to  flank  our 
march  by  advances  through  a  path  on  the  left  of  the  main  road. 
Just  as  this  detachment  was  returning  by  the  circuitous  route 
to  the  road  along  which  the  main  body  was  passing,  the  enemy 
opened  a  brisk  fire  upon  them. 

The  foe  was  in  ambush,  concealed  in  the  dense  chaparral  on 
each  side  of  the  road.  Our  troops  met  this  attack  from  unseen 
assailants,  and  promptly  returned  the  fire.  The  guns  were  speed- 
ily unlimbered,  and  a  few  discharges  of  canister  silenced  the  fire 
of  the  enemy.  They  fled  too  rapidly  to  be  caught.  We  lost  six 
wounded,  and  seven  horses  shot.  A  Mexican  paper  stated  their 
loss  at  forty. 

"I  witnessed,"  writes  Gen.  Pierce,  "with  pleasure,  the  conduct 
of  that  part  of  my  command  immediately  engaged  on  this  occasion. 
The  first  fire  of  the  enemy  indicated  a  pretty  formidable  force, 
the  precise  strength  of  which  could  not  be  ascertained,  as  they 
were  completely  covered  by  the  chaparral.  It  was  the  first  time 
on  the  march  that  any  portion  of  my  command  had  been  fliirly 
under  fire.     I  was  at  the  head  of  the  column,  on  the  main  road. 


FB  AX  KLIN  PIERCE.  339 

and  witnessed  the  whole  scene.  I  saw  nothing  but  coolness  and 
courage  on  the  part  of  both  officers  and  men." 

On  the  night  of  the  20th  of  July,  the  brigade  encamped  at  Paso 
de  Orejas.  The  rear-guard  did  not  reach  the  encampment  until 
after  dark.  As  it  was  descending  a  slope  towards  the  camp,  a 
band  of  guerillas  was  seen  approaching.  All  the  day  they  had 
been  noticed  on  the  distant  hills,  watching  the  advance  of  our 
lines.  As  they  approached  menacingly  Avithin  cannon-range,  a 
gun  was  brought  to  bear  upon  them ;  and  a  few  discharges  put 
them  to  flight.  Paso  de  Orejas  is  on  the  west  side  of  a  beautiful 
stream,  spanned  by  a  substantial  bridge. 

At  four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  July  21,  they  again  broke 
camp,  and  pursued  their  course  towards  Puente  Nacionale,  antici- 
pating an  attack  at  every  exposed  point.  When  they  reached  the 
summit  of  a  long  hill  which  descended  on  the  west  to  the  Antigua 
River,  Gen.  Pierce  halted  his  command,  and  with  his  glass  care- 
fully examined  the  country  before  them.  In  the  distance  could  be 
seen  the  little  village  of  Puente  Nacionale,  on  the  western  side  of 
the  river.  This  stream  is  also  crossed  by  a  bridge.  A  few  lancers 
could  be  seen  in  the  village,  in  their  gay  uniforms,  riding  rapidly 
from  one  position  to  another,  and  flourishing  their  red  flags  as  if 
in  defiance.  A  strong  barricade,  defended  by  a  breastwork,  was 
thrown  across  the  bridge.  A  large  body  of  the  enemy  was  posted 
on  a  bluff  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  which  commanded  the 
structure  over  which  the  little  army  must  pass.  It  was  impossi- 
ble to  turn  their  position. 

Gen.  Pierce  rode  forward  to  reconnoitre  the  enemy's  works 
more  closely.  He  then  brought  forward  his  artillery,  and,  by  some 
deadly  discharges,  swept  the  bridge,  and  dispersed  the  lancers. 
A  few  shots  were  also  thrown  at  the  heights,  which  so  distracted 
the  attention  of  the  enemy,  that  Col.  Bonham,  with  a  few  compa- 
nies of  picked  men,  made  a  rush  upon  the  bridge  with  a  loud 
battle-cry,  leaped  the  barricade  of  brush  and  timber,  reached  the 
village,  rallied  his  men  under  cover  of  its  buildings,  and  rushed 
up  the  steep  bluff,  to  gain  its  summit  just  in  time  to  see  the  be- 
wildered and  disorganized  foe  disappear  in  the  distance.  One 
grand  cheer  from  the  victors  on  the  bluff,  echoed  back  by  the 
troops  below,  greeted  this  heroic  achievement.  The  remainder 
of  the  command  followed  rapidly,  and  in  good  order.  A  company 
of  dragoons  dashed  through  the  village,  hoping  to  cut  off  the: 


340  LIVES  OF   THE  PBESIDENTS. 

retreat  of  the  fugitives  ;  but  terror  had  added  such  wings  to  their 
flight,  that  they  had  entirely  disappeared  in  the  dense  chaparral 
in  their  rear. 

Col.  Bonham's  horse  was  shot,  and  Gen.  Pierce  received  a  mus- 
ket-ball through  the  rim  of  his  hat.  It  is  indeed  wonderful  that 
so  few  were  hurt,  when  the  bullets,  for  a  short  time,  rattled  so 
thickly  around  them ;  but  the  Mexicans  on  the  bluff  took  poor 
aim,  and  most  of  their  balls  passed  over  our  heads.  Here  they 
encamped  for  the  night,  at  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  from  Vera 
Cruz.  Gen.  Pierce  established  his  headquarters  at  a  large  and 
splendid  estate  which  he  found  here,  belonging  to  Gen.  Santa  Anna. 

At  four  o'clock  the  next  morning,  July  22,  the  brigade  was 
again  in  motion.  As  the)'-  moved  along,  upon  all  the  surrounding 
heights  armed  bands  of  Mexicans  were  seen  watching  them. 
They  kept,  however,  at  too  great  a  distance  to  be  reached  by 
bullet  or  ball.  At  one  point  of  the  march,  the  head  of  the 
column  was  fired  upon  by  a  few  guerillas  hidden  in  the  chapar- 
ral, who  succeeded  in  wounding  three  horses  ;  but  the  skirmish- 
ers thrown  out  in  pursuit  of  them  could  find  no  trace  even  of  their 
ambuscade.  At  length,  on  this  day's  tramp,  they  came  in  sight 
of  an  old  Spanish  fort,  which  commanded  both  the  road,  and  a 
bridge  that  crossed  a  stream  at  this  point.  The  bridge  was  barri- 
caded, with  the  evident  intention  of  defending  it.  Here  Gen. 
Pierce  expected  a  stern  conflict ;  but,  to  his  surprise,  he  found 
both  fort  and  barricade  silent  and  solitary.  Removing  the  obstruc- 
tions, they  came  to  another  stream,  much  broader,  also  spanned 
by  a  bridge. 

"  It  was,"  writes  Gen.  Pierce,  "  a  magnificent  work  of  art,  com- 
bining great  strength  and  beauty,  —  a  work  of  the  old  Spaniards  (so 
many  of  which  are  found  upon  this  great  avenue  from  the  coast), 
fitted  to  awaken  the  admiration  and  wonder  of  the  traveller.  Tiie 
fact  that  the  main  arch,  a  span  of  about  sixty  feet,  had  been  blown 
up,  first  burst  upon  me  as  I  stood  upon  the  brink  of  the  chasm, 
with  a  perpendicular  descent  of  nearly  a  hundred  feet  to  the  bed 
of  a  rapid  stream  much  swollen  by  the  recent  rains.  As  far  as 
the  eye  could  reach,  above  and  below,  the  banks  on  the  west  side, 
of  vast  height,  descended  precipitously,  almost  in  a  perpendicular 
line,  to  the  water's  edge. 

"  This  sudden  and  unexpected  barrier,  I  need  not  say,  was  some- 
what withering  to  the  confidence  with  w^hich  I  had  been  ani- 


.  FRANKLIN  PIERCE.  341 

mated.  The  news  having  extended  back  along  the  line,  my 
officers  soon  crowded  around  me ;  and  the  deep  silence  that 
ensued  was  more  significant  than  any  thing  which  could  have  been 
spoken.  After  a  few  moments'  pause,  this  silence  was  broken  by 
many  short  epigrammatical  remarks,  and  more  questions.  '  We 
have  it  before  us  now,'  said  Col.  Hebert.  '  The  destruction  of  this 
magnificent  and  expensive  work  of  a  past  generation  could  not 
have  been  ordered  but  upon  a  deliberate  and  firm  purpose  of  a 
stern  resistance.' — 'This  people  have  destroyed,'  said  another, 
'  what  they  never  will  rebuild.'  " 

What  to  do  was  now  the  question.  In  the  mean  time,  a  small 
body  of  infantry  had  descended  the  steep  by  the  aid  of  trees, 
rocks,  and  stumps,  and,  fording  the  stream,  had  taken  possession 
of  a  stone  church  on  the  other  side.  The  line  of  wagons,  brought 
to  a  stand,  extended  back  along  the  road  for  a  distance  of  a  mile 
and  a  half  For  miles  around,  the  growth  was  dwarfed  and  scrub- 
by, affording  no  timber  to  reconstruct  the  arch.  It  was  now 
night ;  and  weary,  and  not  a  little  despondent,  all  sank  to  repose. 

It  so  happened  that  there  was  in  the  army  a  Maine  lumberman, 
Capt.  Bodfish,  who  had  been  accustomed  to  surmount  many  diffi- 
culties of  this  kind  in  the  logging-swamps  of  his  native  State.  Gen. 
Pierce  the  next  morning,  at  an  early  hour,  sent  for  him.  With  a 
practised  eye,  he  examined  the  ground,  and  said  that  he  could  con- 
struct a  road  over  which  the  train  could  pass. 

"  How  much  time  do  you  need,"  inquired  Gen.  Pierce,  "  to  com- 
plete the  road?" 

"  That  depends,"  said  he,  "  upon  the  number  of  men  employed. 
If  you  give  me  five  hundred  men,  I  will  furnish  you  a  road  over 
which  the  train  can  pass  safely  in  four  hours." 

The  detail  was  immediately  ordered,  and  in  tlwee  liours  the 
trains  were  in  motion.  "  Bodfish's  road,"  says  Gen.  Pierce,  "  unless 
this  nation  shall  be  regenerated,  will  be  the  road  at  that  place,  for 
Mexican  diligences,  for  half  a  century  to  come."  Before  the  sun 
went  down  on  the  evening  of  the  23d,  every  wagon  had  passed 
without  the  slightest  accident.  There  was  great  glee  that  night 
in  the  camp.  Many  were  the  jokes  about  Mexican  stupidity  and 
Yankee  cunning.  All  were  now  eager  to  press  on ;  for  all  felt 
new  assurance  in  the  final  success  of  their  bold  enterprise. 

They  were  approaching  Cerro  Gordo.  From  the  heights  in  that 
vicinity,  the  Mexicans  could  easily  embarrass  the  march  by  a 


342  LIVES   OF  THE  PRESIDEXTS. 

plunging  fire.  Gen.  Pierce  himself,  with  a  body  of  cavalry,  set 
out  in  the  darkness  and  the  rain  to  occupy  the  eminences.  The 
darkness  was  so  great,  that  one's  hand  could  scarcely  be  seen  be- 
fore him;  and  it  soon  became  impossible  to  advance.  The  detach- 
ment slept  upon  their  arms  until  the  earliest  dawn  of  the  morning, 
when  they  pressed  on,  and  succeeded  in  seizing  the  important  po- 
sition. A  few  Mexicans  were  seen  upon  one  of  the  heights,  who 
discharged  a  volley  of  bullets,  harmless  from  the  distance,  upon  a 
portion  of  the  train.  A  six-pounder  was  brought  forward,  which 
threw  a  few  canister-shot  into  the  midst  of  them;  and  they  scat- 
tered in  all  directions. 

They  soon  reached  another  of  the  magnificent  estates  of  Santa 
Anna,  well  stocked  with  fat  cattle.  Gen.  Pierce,  in  his  journal, 
says  very  naively,  "  As  there  was  no  owner  of  whom  to  purchase, 
I  have  sent  out  detachments  to  supply  our  wants.  The  boys  had 
great  fun  in  playing  '  hunt  buffalo ; '  and,  in  the  excitement  of 
the  chase,  some  of  them  wandered  to  an  imprudent  distance  from 
the  camp.  One  of  them  got  a  bullet-shot  through  the  thigh  in 
consequence.  All  the  night,  guerillas  were  prowling  about  the 
camp." 

Upon  Santa  Anna's  estate,  or  hacienda  as  it  was  called,  they 
found  delightful  encampment  upon  a  green  lawn,  gently  sloping 
to  a  fine  stream  of  clear,  pure  water.  They  were  then  but  eight 
mile?  from  Jalapa. 

On  the  morning  of  the  24th,  they  left,  with  regret,  their  delight- 
ful encampment  at  Encero.  The  verdant  lawn,  the  sparkling 
stream  rippling  over  its  pebbly  bed,  and  the  cultivated  region 
around,  reminded  all  of  their  New-England  homes.  At  noon,  they 
reached  Jalapa  unopposed.  Here  Gen.  Pierce  rode  to  an  inn  kept 
by  a  Frenchman,  and  dined.  At  the  inn,  he  met  several  well- 
dressed,  intelligent  Mexicans.  They  were  profuse  in  their  com- 
mendations of  the  achievements  of  the  Yankees.  The  army 
proceeded  about  three  miles  beyond  the  city,  and  encamped  by 
another  fine  stream,  "  which  drives  the  spindles  of  Don  Garcia,  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  below  us."  He  there  ascertained,  that,  beyond 
doubt,  the  gentlemen  with  whom  he  had  conversed  in  the  inn  at 
Jalapa  were  guerillas  in  disguise.  They  were  ever  hovering 
around  the  skirts  of  the  army,  ready  to  murder  and  to  rob  as  they 
could  find  opportunity.  That  very  day,  a  servant,  who  had  been 
sent  to  water  a  horse,  not  six  rods  from  the  road,  was  killed,  and 
his  horse  stolen. 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE.  343 

The  next  day,  the  27th,  as  they  made  a  short  tarry  in  their  en- 
campment just  out  from  Jalapa,  several  soldiers,  who  had  wandered, 
in  violation  of  orders,  from  the  camp  to  the  vicinity  of  the  sur- 
rounding farms,  never  returned.  It  is  supposed  that  they  were 
either  killed  or  captured. 

On  the  morning  of  the  29th,  at  seven  o'clock,  the  march  was  again 
resumed.  The  sick-list  was  increasing,  and  there  were  over  four 
hundred  on  the  surgeon's  roll.  Few  inexperienced  in  such  mat- 
ters can  imagine  the  care  and  skill  requisite  to  move  a  body,  even 
of  twenty-four  hundred  men,  hundreds  of  miles,  with  four  hundred 
sick  men  in  wagons,  so  that  the  wants  of  all  shall  be  attended  to, 
and  that  every  man  shall  have  his  regular  and  proper  meals. 
Fruits  were  abundant  along  the  line  of  march,  and  the  soldiers 
indulged  freely.  The  rain  was  also  falling  in  torrents,  which  kept 
all  drenched  to  the  skin,  and  penetrated  the  tents,  while  the  flood 
rushed  in  torrents  through  the  gullies. 

The  morning  of  the  30th  found  them  near  the  Castle  of  Perote. 
*•  I  reached  the  castle,"  Gen.  Pierce  writes,  "before  dark;  and 
Col.  Windcoop,  who  was  in  command  of  the  castle,  with  Capt. 
Walker's  elegant  company  of  mounted  riflemen,  kindly  tendered 
me  his  quarters.  But  I  adhered  to  a  rule  from  which  I  have 
never  deviated  on  the"  march,  —  to  see  the  rear  of  the  command 
safely  in  camp ;  and,  where  they  pitched  their  tents,  to  pitch  my 
own.  The  rear-guard,  in  consequence  of  the  broken  condition  of 
the  road,  did  not  arrive  until  nine  o'clock ;  when  our  tents  were 
pitched  in  darkness,  and  in  the  sand  which  surrounds  the  castle 
on  all  sides."  ' 

Here  they  made  a  halt  of  two  or  three  days  to  repair  damages, 
and  to  refresh  the  sick  and  the  exhausted.  Two  hundred  of  the 
sick  were  sent  to  the  hospital  in  the  castle.  The  next  day,  Capt. 
Rufi"  arrived  with  a  company  of  cavalry,  having  been  sent  by  Gen. 
Scott  to  ascertain  the  whereabouts  and  condition  of  Gen.  Pierce's 
command,  and  to  afford  him  assistance  if  needed.  Soon  they  re- 
sumed their  march,  and,  on  the  7th  of  August,  reached  the  main 
body  of  the  army  under  the  commander-in-chief,  at  Puebla.  Gen. 
Pierce  had  conducted  twenty-four  hundred  men  on  this  arduous 
march,  without  the  loss  of  a  single  wagon. 

Gen.  Scott  had  been  waiting  at  Puebla  for  the  arrival  of  the 
re-enforcement  under  Gen.  Pierce.  He  was  now  prepared  to  move 
vigorously  forward  in  his  attack  upon  the  city  of  Mexico.     Santa 


344  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Anna  had  an  advance-guard  of  about  seven  thousand  men  at  Con- 
treras.  Gen.  Scott  wished  to  cut  off  these  detached  troops  from 
the  main  body  of  the  Mexican  army,  and,  by  destroying  their 
communications  with  the  city,  to  have  them  at  his  mercy.  He 
therefore  sent  a  division  of  his  army,  by  a  circuitous  route,  to 
occupy  the  villages  and  strong  positions  in  their  rear.  To  hide 
this  movement  from  the  foe,  and  to  distract  their  attention,  Gen. 
Pierce  was  ordered,  with  four  thousand  men,  to  make  an  impetu- 
ous assault  upon  their  front. 

It  was  indeed  severe  service  upon  which  he  was  thus  detached. 
The  enemy  had  nearly  two  to  his  one.  They  were  in  their  own 
chosen  positions,  and  were  protected  by  intrenchments,  from  which, 
unexposed,  they  could  hurl  a  storm  of  shot  and  shell  into  the  faces 
of  their  assailants.  The  ground  over  which  the  charge  was  to  be 
made  was  exceedingly  rough,  bristling  with  sharp  points  of  rocks, 
and  broken  by  ridges  and  gullies.  The  Mexicans  threw  out  skir- 
mishers, who  were  posted  in  great  force  among  the  irregularities 
of  this  broken  ground.  As  our  troops  advanced,  they  were  met 
with  a  murderous  fire  of  musketry  from  these  concealed  riflemen, 
while  the  heavy  balls  from  the  Mexican  batteries  shivered  the 
rocks  around  them.  Had  the  Mexicans  been  expert  gunners,  Gen. 
Pierce's  command  would  have  been  annihilated ;  but,  fortunately 
or  providentially,  most  of  the  shot  from  the  intrenched  camp 
passed  over  the  heads  of  our  troops. 

"  In  the  midst  of  this  fire.  Gen.  Pierce,"  writes  Hawthorne,  his 
eloquent  biographer,  "  being  the  only  officer  mounted  in  the  bri- 
gade, leaped  his  horse  upon  an  abrupt  eminence,  and  addressed  the 
colonels  and  captains  of  the  regiments,  as  they  passed,  in  a  few 
stirring  words,  reminding  them  of  the  honor  of  their  country,  of 
the  victory  their  steady  valor  would  contribute  to  achieve.  Press- 
ing forward  to  the  head  of  the  column,  he  had  nearly  reached  the 
practicable  ground  that  lay  beyond,  when  his  horse  slipped  among 
the  rocks,  thrust  his  foot  into  a  crevice,  and  fell,  breaking  his  own 
leg,  and  crushing  his  rider  heavily  beneath  him." 

The  general  was  stunned  b}'  the  fall,  and  almost  insensible. 
His  orderly  hastened  to  his  assistance,  and  found  him  very  se- 
verely bruised,  and  sufieriug  agonizingly  from  a  sprain  of  the  left 
knee,  upon  which  the  horse  had  fallen.  The  bullets  and  balls 
of  the  enemy  were  flying  thickly  around.  As  the  orderly  at- 
tempted to  assist  the  wounded  general  to  reach  the  shelter  of  a 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE.  345 

projecting  rock,  a  shell  buried  itself  in  the  earth  at  their  feet,  and, 
exploding,  covered  them  with  stones  and  sand.  "That  was  a 
lucky  miss,"  said  Gen.  Pierce  calmly. 

Leaving  him  under  shelter  of  the  rock,  the  orderly  went  in  search 
of  a  surgeon.  Fortunately,  he  met  Dr.  Ritchie  near  by,  who  was 
following  the  advancing  column.  He  rendered  such  assistance-  as 
the  circumstances  would  permit;  and  soon  Gen.  Pierce  recovered 
full  consciousness,  and  became  anxious  to  rejoin  his  troops.  Not- 
withstanding the  surgeon's  remonstrances,  he  leaned  upon  his 
orderly's  shoulder,  and,  hobbling  along,  reached  a  battery,  where 
he  found  a  horse,  whose  saddle  had  just  been  emptied  by  a  Mexi- 
can bullet.  He  was  assisted  into  the  saddle.  "  You  will  not 
be  able  to  keep  your  seat,"  said  one.  "  Then  you  must  tie  me 
on,"  replied  the  general.  Thus  bruised  and  sprained,  and  agon- 
ized with  pain,  he  again  rode  forward  into  the  hottest  of  the 
battle. 

Till  nightfall,  the  conflict  raged  unabated.  It  was  eleven  at 
night  before  Gen.  Pierce  left  his  saddle.  He  had  withdrawn  his 
troops  from  their  exposed  position,  and  assembled  them  in  a  shel- 
tered spot,  where  they  were  to  pass  the  night.  The  rain  was 
then  falling  in  torrents.  It  is  a  curious  phenomenon,  that  it  often 
rains  almost  immediately  after  a  battle.  There  were  no  tents ; 
there  was  no  protection  for  officers  or  men :  drenched,  exhausted, 
hungry,  they  threw  themselves  upon  the  flooded  sods  for  sleep. 
Gen,  Pierce  lay  down  upon  an  ammunition-wagon ;  but  the 
torture  of  his  inflamed  and  swollen  knee  would  not  aflow  him  a 
moment  of  repose. 

But  one  hour  after  midnight  of  that  dark  and  stormy  night  had 
passed,  when  Gen.  Pierce  received  orders  from  Gen.  Scott  to  put 
his  brigade  in  a  new  position  in  front  of  the  enemy's  works,  to  be 
prepared  for  a  new  assault  with  the  earliest  dawn  of  the  morning. 
In  the  midst  of  the  gloom  and  the  storm,  the  movement  was 
made. 

As  soon  as  a  few  glimmers  of  light  were  seen  in  the  east,  these 
men  of  invincible  resolution  and  iron  sinews  were  again  on  the 
move.  Gen.  Pierce  was  again  in  his  saddle,  and  at  the  head  of  his 
brigade.  The  Mexican  camp  was  attacked  simultaneously  in  front 
and  rear.  In  seventeen  minutes,  the  "stars  and  stripes"  floated 
over  the  ramparts  of  the  foe  ;  and  the  cheers  of  the  victors  pro- 
claimed that  the  conquest  was  complete.     Many  prisoners  were 

44 


346  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

taken.  Those  who  escaped  fled  in  wildest  disorder  towards  Che- 
rubusco. 

Gen.  Pierce  almost  forgot  exhaustion,  wounds,  and  agony,  in 
his  eager  pursuit  of  the  fugitives.  The  roads  and  fields  were 
strewn  with  the  dead  and  the  dying,  and  every  conceivable  form 
of  human  mutilation  and  misery.  The  pursuit  continued  until 
one  o'clock.  The  victors  then  found  themselves  checked  by  the 
strong  fortifications  of  Cherubusco  and  San  Antonio,  where  Santa 
Anna  was  prepared  to  make  another  desperate  stand.  Gen.  Scott 
feared  that  Santa  Anna  might  escape,  and  concentrate  all  his 
troops  within  the  walls  of  the  city  of  Mexico.  To  prevent  this, 
he  sent  an  aide,  Col.  Noah  E.  Smith,  to  call  Gen.  Pierce  to  his 
presence,  that  he  might  give  him  directions  to  take  a  route  by 
which  he  could  assail  the  foe  in  their  rear.  Col.  Smith  met  the 
general  at  the  head  of  his  brigade.     He  writes,  — 

"  Gen.  Pierce  was  exceedingly  thin,  worn  down  by  the  fatigue 
and  pain  of  the  day  and  night  before,  and  then  evidently  suffering 
severely.  Still  there  was  a  glow  in  his  eye,  as  the  cannon  boomed, 
that  showed  within  him  a  spirit  read}'  for  the  conflict." 

Gen.  Scott  was  sitting  on  horseback  beneath  a  tree,  issuing 
orders  to  his  stafi",  as  Gen.  Pierce  rode  up.  The  commander-in- 
chief  had  heard  of  the  accident  which  had  befallen  the  general, 
and,  as  he  noticed  his  aspect  of  pain  and  physical  exhaustion,  said 
to  him, — 

"  Pierce,  my  dear  fellow,  you  are  badly  injured.  You  are  not 
fit  to  be  in  the  saddle." 

"  Yes,  general,"  was  the  reply:  "  I  am,  in  a  case  like  this." 

"  You  cannot  touch  your  foot  to  the  stirrup,"  said  Scott. 

"  One  I  can,"  answered  Pierce. 

Gen.  Scott  looked  at  him  for  a  moment  in  silence,  and  then  said 
in  decided  tones,  ''  You  are  rash,  Gen.  Pierce :  we  shaU  lose  you, 
and  we  cannot  spare  you.  It  is  my  duty  to  order  you  back  to 
St.  Augustine." 

But  Gen.  Pierce  pleaded  so  earnestly  that  he  might  be  permit- 
ted to  remain,  and  take  part  in  the  great  battle  then  imminent,  that 
Scott  at  last  reluctantly  consented,  and  orderecj  him  to  advance 
with  his  brigade.  His  path  led  over  a  marsh,  intersected  with 
ditches  filled  with  water.  Over  several  of  these  ditches,  the  gen- 
eral leaped  his  horse.  At  last  he  came  to  one  ten  feet  wide  and 
six  feet  deep.     He  was  there  compelled  to  leave  his  horse.     He, 


FRANKLIX  PIERCE.  347 

however,  succeeded  in  getting  across  the  ditch,  and  was  there 
with  his  troops  under  fire.  He  had  now  gone  to  the  farthest 
point  of  physical  endurance.  Entirely  overcome  by  sleeplessness, 
exhaustion,  pain,  and  fatigue,  he  sank  to  the  ground,  fainting,  and 
almost  insensible. 

Some  soldiers  hastened  to  lift  him,  and  bear  him  from  the  field. 
He  partially  revived,  and,  resisting,  said,  "  No  :  do  not  carry  me 
oil'.  Let  me  lie  here."  There  he  remained,  in  the  midst  of  his 
struggling  troops,  exposed  to  the  shot  of  the  foe,  while  the  tre- 
mendous battle  of  Cherubusco  raged  around  him.  At  length,  the 
cheers  of  our  men  announced  their  victory.  Santa  Anna  sent  a 
flag  of  truce,  proposing  an  armistice.  Gen.  Pierce  was  appointed 
one  of  the  commissioners  to  meet  him.  He  was  unable  to  walk, 
or  to  mount  his  horse  without  assistance.  He  was,  however, 
helped  into  his  saddle,  and  rode  to  Tacubaya;  and  the  conference 
was  held  at  the  house  of  the  British  consul  from  late  in  the  after- 
noon until  four  o'clock  the  next  morning. 

They  could  not  come  to  satisfactor}'  terms,  and  military  opera- 
tions were  soon  renewed.  Not  long  after,  on  the  8th  of  Septem- 
ber, the  sanguinary  battle  of  Molino  del  Rey,  the  fiercest  conflict 
of  the  war,  was  fought.  Gen.  Worth,  with  three  thousand  men, 
attacked  fourteen  thousand  Mexicans.  Gen.  Pierce  was  ordered 
to  his  support.  Just  as  he  reached  the  field,  a  shell  burst  almost 
beneath  the  feet  of  his  horse :  and  he  narrowly  escaped  being 
thrown  over  a  precipice.  Again  the  vanquished  enemy  fled,  and 
made  another  stand  under  protection  of  the  castle  of  Chepultepec. 
In  the  heroic  storming  of  that  castle,  on  the  13th  of  September, 
Gen.  Pierce  could  take  no  part,  though  his  brigade  performed 
gallant  service.  But  their  general  had  been  conveyed  to  the 
headquarters  of  Gen.  Worth,  where  he  was  taken  so  extremely 
ill,  that  he  was  unable  to  leave  his  bed  for  thirty-six  hours.  This 
was  the  last  great  struggle.  The  city  of  Mexico  now  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Americans.  Gen.  Pierce  remained  in  the  captured 
city  until  December,  when  he  returned  from  these  strange  scenes 
of  violence  and  blood  to  the  wife  and  child  whom  he  had  loft 
about  nine  months  before  among  the  peaceful  hills  of  New  Hamp- 
shire. 

When  Gen.  Pierce  reached  his  home  in  his  native  State,  he 
was  received  enthusiastically  by  the  advocates  of  the  Mexican 
War,  and  coldly  by  its  opponents.     He  resumed  the  exercise  of 


848  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

his  profession,  very  frequently  taking  an  active  part  in  political 
questions,  giving  his  cordial  support  to  the  proslavery  wing  of 
the  Democratic  party.  The  compromise  measures  met  cordially 
with  his  approval ;  and  he  strenuously  advocated  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  fugitive-slave  law,  which  so  shocked  the  religious 
sensibilities  of  the  North.  He  thus  became  distinguished  as  a 
"  Northern  man  with  Southern  principles."  The  strong  partisans 
of  slavery  in  the  South  consequently  regarded  him  as  a  man 
whom  they  could  safely  trust  in  office  to  carry  out  their  plans. 

On  the  12th  of  June,  1852,  the  Democratic  convention  met  in 
Baltimore  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  the  presidency.  For  four 
days  they  continued  in  session,  and  in  thirty-five  ballotings  no 
one  had  obtained  a  two-thirds  vote.  Not  a  vote  had  thus  far  been 
thrown  for  Gen.  Pierce.  Then  the  Virginia  delegation  brought 
forward  his  name.  There  were  fourteen  more  ballotings,  during 
which  Gen.  Pierce  constantly  gained  strength,  until,  at  the  forty- 
ninth  ballot,  he  received  two  hundred  and  eighty-two  votes,  and 
all  other  candidates  eleven.  Gen.  Winfield  Scott  was  the  Whig 
candidate.  Gen.  Pierce  was  chosen  with  great  unanimity.  Only 
four  States  —  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee 
—  cast  their  electoral  votes  against  him.  On  the  4th  of  March, 
1853,  he  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United  States. 

His  administration  proved  one  of  the  most  stormy  our  country 
had  ever  experienced.  The  controversy  between  slavery  and 
freedom  was  then  approaching  its  culminating  point.  It  became 
evident  that  there  was  an  "  irrepressible  conflict "'  between  them, 
and  that  tliis  nation  could  not  long  exist ''  half  slave  and  half  free." 
President  Pierce,  during  the  whole  of  his  administration,  did  every 
thing  which  could  be  done  to  conciliate  the  South ;  but  it  was  all 
in  vain.  The  conflict  every  year  grew  more  violent,  and  threats 
of  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  were  borne  to  the  north  on  every 
southern  breeze. 

At  the  demand  of  slavery,  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  re- 
pealed, and  all  the  Territories  of  the  Union  were  thrown  open  to 
slavery.  The  Territory  of  Kansas,  west  of  Missouri,  was  settled 
by  emigrants  mainly  from  the  North.  According  to  law,  they 
were  about  to  meet,  and  decide  whether  slavery  or  freedom  should 
be  the  law  of  that  realm.  It  was  certain  that  they  would  decide 
for  freedom. 

Slavery  in  Missouri  and  other  Southern  States  rallied  her  armed 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE.  349 

legions,  marched  them  in  military  array  into  Kansas,  took  pos- 
session of  the  polls,  drove  away  the  citizens,  deposited  their  own 
votes  by  handfuls,  went  through  the  farce  of  counting  them,  and 
then  declared,  that,  by  an  overwhelming  liiajority,  slavery  was  es- 
tablished in  Kansas.  These  facts  nobody  denied  ;  and  yet  Presi- 
dent Pierce's  administration  felt  bound  to  respect  the  decision 
obtained  by  such  votes. 

This  armed  mob  from  other  States  then  chose  a  legislature  of 
strong  proslavery  men  ;  convened  them  in  a  small  town  near  Mis- 
souri, where  they  could  be  protected  from  any  opposition  from  the 
free-soil  citizens  of  the  State ;  and  called  this  band,  thus  fraudu- 
lently elected,  the  ''  Legislature  of  Kansas."  No  one  could  deny 
these  facts  ;  and  yet  President  Pierce  deemed  it  his  duty  to  recog- 
nize this  body  as  the  lawful  legislature. 

This  bogus  legislature  met,  and  enacted  a  code  of  proslavery 
laws  which  would  have  disgraced  savages.  Neither  freedom  of 
speech  nor  of  the  press  was  allowed,  and  death  was  the  doom 
of  any  one  who  should  speak  or  write  against  slavery ;  and  yet 
President  Pierce  assumed  that  these  laws  were  binding  upon  the 
community. 

The  armed  mob  of  invasion  consisted  of  nearly  seven  thousand 
men.  As  they  commenced  their  march,  one  of  their  leaders  thus 
addressed  them :  — 

^•'  To  those  who  have  qualms  of  conscience  as  to  violating  laws, 
State  or  National,  the  time  has  come  when  such  impositions  must 
be  disregarded,  as  your  rights  and  property  are  in  danger.  I  ad- 
vise you,  one  and  all,  to  enter  every  election  district  in  Kansas,  and 
vote  at  the  point  of  the  bowie-knife  and  revolver.  Neither  give 
nor  take  quarter,  as  our  case  demands  it.  It  is  enough  that  the 
slaveholding  interest  wills  it,  from  which  there  is  no  appeal." 

They  marched  with  artillery,  banners,  music,  and  mounted 
horsemen.  By  such  a  force,  infant  Kansas  was  subjugated,  and 
the  mostsacred  rights  of  American  freemen  were  trampled  in  the 
dust.  When  the  array  returned  to  the  city  of  Independence  in 
Missouri,  the  "squatter  sovereign"  of  that  place  said,  "They 
report  that  not  a  single  antislavery  man  will  be  in  the  Legislature 
of  Kansas." 

The  citizens  of  Kansas,  the  great  majority  of  whom  were  free- 
State  men,  met  in  convention,  and  adopted  the  following  resolve  :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  body  of  men,  who,  for  the  past  two  months, 


S50  LIVES  OF  THE  PEESIDENTS. 

have  been  passing  laws  for  the  people  of  our  Territory,  moved, 
counselled,  and  dictated  to  by  the  demagogues  of  Missouri,  are  to 
us  a  foreign  body,  representing  only  the  lawless  invaders  who 
elected  them,  and  not  the  people  of  the  territory  ;  that  we  repu- 
diate their  action  as  the  monstrous  consummation  of  an  act  of 
violence,  usurpation,  and  fraud,  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the 
Union."' 

The  free-State  people  of  Kansas  also  sent  a  petition  to  the  Gen- 
eral Government,  imploring  its  protection.  In  reply,  the  President 
issued  a  proclamation,  declaring  that  the  legislature  thus  created 
must  be  recognized  as  the  legitimate  legislature  of  Kansas,  and 
that  its  laws  were  binding  upon  the  people  :  and  that,  if  necessary, 
the  whole  force  of  the  governmental  arm  would  be  put  forth  to 
enforce  those  laws. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  President  Pierce  ap- 
proached the  close  of  his  four-years'  term  of  oflSce.  The  North  had 
become  thoroughly  alienated  from  him.  The  antislavery  senti- 
ment, goaded  by  these  outrages,  had  been  rapidly  increasing  ;  and 
all  the  intellectual  ability  and  social  worth  of  President  Pierce 
were  forgotten  in  deep  reprehension  of  these  administrative  acts. 
The  slaveholders  of  the  South  also,  unmindful  of  the  fidelity  with 
which  he  had  advocated  those  measures  of  Government  which 
they  approved,  and  perhaps,  also,  feehng  that  he  had  rendered 
himself  so  unpopular  as  no  longer  to  be  able  acceptably  to  serve 
them,  ungratefully  dropped  him,  and  nominated  James  Buchanan 
as  the  Democratic  candidate  to  succeed  him  in  the  presidency, 
Jqhn  C,  Fremont  was  the  candidate  of  the  Free-soil  party, 

James  Buchanan  was  the  successful  candidate.  He  had  pledged 
himself  to  stand  upon  the  same  platform  which  his  predecessor 
had  occupied,  ''  lowered  never  an  inch,"  On  the  -4th  of  March, 
1857,  President  Pierce  retired  to  his  home  in  Concord,  X.H.  Of 
three  children,  two  had  died,  and  his  only  surviving  child  had  been 
killed  before  his  eyes  by  a  railroad  accident ;  and  his  wife,  one  of 
the  most  estimable  and  accomplished  of  ladies,  was  rapidly  sink- 
ino"  in  consumption.  The  hour  of  dreadful  gloom  soon  came,  and 
he  was  left  alone  in  the  world,  without  wife  or  child. 

When  the  terrible  Rebellion  burst  forth,  which  divided  our  coun- 
try into  two  parties,  and  two  only,  Mr.  Pierce  remained  steadfast 
in  the  principles  which  he  had  always  cherished,  and  gave  his  sym- 
pathies to  that  proslavery  party  with  which  he  had  ever  been 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE.  351 

allied.  He  declined  to  do  any  thing,  either  l\y  voice  or  pen,  to 
strengthen  the  hands  of  the  National  Government.  He  still  lives, 
in  the  autumn  of  1866,  in  Concord,  N.H.,  one  of  the  most  genial 
and  social  of  men,  an  honored  communicant  in  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  one  of  the  kindest  of  neighbors  and  best  of  friends. 


CHAPTER    XY. 

JAMES     BUCHANAN. 

His  Childhood's  Home.  —  Devotion  to  Study.  —  Scholarship,  and  Purity  of  Character.  —  Con- 
gi'essional  Career.  —  Political  Views.  —  Secretary  of  State.  —  Minister  to  the  Court  of  St. 
James. —  Ostend  Manifesto. — Elected  to  the  Presidency.  —  The  New-Haven  Corre- 
spondence. —  Disasters  of  his  Administration.  —  Retirement. 

James  Buchanan,  the  fifteenth  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  in  a  small  frontier  town,  at  the  foot  of  the  eastern  ridge 


-■w-^-i^i;^ 


RESIDENIK   Of   JAMES    DUCHAXAX. 


of  the  Alleghanies,  in  Franklin  County,  Penn.,  on  the  23d  of 
April,  1791.  The  place  where  the  humble  cabin  of  his  father 
stood  was  called  Stony  Batter.  It  was  a  wild  and  romantic  spot 
in  a  gorge  of  the  mountains,  with  towering  summits  rising  grandly 


352 


JAMES   BUCHANAN.  353 

all  around.  His  fatlier  was  a  native  of  the  north  of  Ireland;  a  poor 
man,  who  had  emigrated  in  1783,  with  little  property  save  his 
own  strong  arms.  Five  years  after  his  arrival  in  this  country,  he 
married  Elizabeth  Spear,  the  daughter  of  a  respectable  farmer,  and, 
with  his  young  bride,  plunged  into  the  wilderness,  staked  his 
claim,  reared  his  log-hut,  opened  a  clearing  with  his  axe,  and 
settled  down  there  to  perform  his  obscure  part  in  the  drama  of 
life. 

In  this  secluded  home,  where  James  was  born,  he  remained  for 
eight  years,  enjoying  but  few  social  oi  'ntellectual  advantages. 
His  father  was  industrious,  frugal,  and  prosperous,  and  was  un- 
usually intelligent  for  a  man  in  his  situation.  His  mother  also 
was  a  woman  of  superior  character,  possessing  sound  judgment, 
and  a  keen  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  in  nature  and  in  art. 
When  James  was  eight  years  of  age,  his  father  removed  to  the 
village  of  Mercersburg,  where  his  son  was  placed  at  school,  and 
commenced  a  course  of  study  in  English,  Latin,  and  Greek.  His 
progress  was  rapid ;  and,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  entered  Dick- 
inson College,  at  Carlisle.  Here  he  developed  remarkable  talent, 
and  took  his  stand  among  the  first  scholars  in  the  institution.  His 
application  to  study  was  intense,  and  yet  his  native  powers 
enabled  him  to  master  the  most  abstruse  subjects  Avith  facility. 

In  the  year  1809,  he  graduated  with  the  highest  honors  of  his 
class.  He  was  then  eighteen  years  of  age  ;  tall  and  graceful, 
vigorous  in  health,  fond  of  athletic  sports,  an  unerring  shot,  and 
enlivened  with  an  exuberant  flow  of  animal  spirits.  He  imme- 
diately commenced  the  study  of  law  in  the  city  of  Lancaster,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1812,  when  he  was  but  twenty-one 
years  of  age.  Very  rapidly  he  rose  in  his  profession,  and  at  once 
took  undisputed  stand  with  the  ablest  lawyers  of  the  State. 
When  but  twenty-six  years  of  age,  unaided  by  counsel,  he  suc- 
cessfully defended  before  the  State  Senate  one  of  the  judges  of 
the  State,  who  was  tried  upon  articles  of  impeachment.  At  the 
age  of  thirty,  it  was  generally  admitted  that  he  stood  at  the  head 
of  the  bar ;  and  there  was  no  lawyer  in  the  State  who  had  a  more 
extensive  or  a  more  lucrative  practice. 

Reluctantly,  he  then,  in  1820,  consented  to  stand  a  candidate  for 
Congress.  He  was  elected ;  and,  for  ten  years,  he  remained  a 
member  of  the  Lower  House.  During  the  vacations  of  Congress,  he 
occasionally  tried  some  important  cause.     In    1831,   he    retired 

45 


354  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

altogether  from  the  toils  of  his  profession,  having  acquired  an 
ample  fortune. 

In  1812,  just  after  Mr.  Buchanan  had  entered  upon  the  practice 
of  the  law,  our  second  war  with  England  occurred.  With  all  his 
powers,  he  sustained  the  Government,  eloquently  urging  the 
vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  even  enlisting  as  a  private 
soldier  to  assist  in  repelling  the  British,  who  had  sacked  Wash- 
ington, and  were  threatening  Baltimore. 

Mr.  Buchanan  was  at  that  time  a  Federalist.  This  term  took 
its  rise  from  those  who  approved  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  with 
all  the  powers  which  it  gave  to  the  National  Government.  The 
anti-Federalists,  who  thought  that  the  Constitution  gave  the  Cen- 
tral Government  too  much  power,  and  the  State  Governments  too 
little,  took  the  name  of  Republicans.  But,  when  the  Constitution 
was  adopted  by  both  parties,  Jefferson  truly  said,  "  We  are  all 
Federalists  ;  we  are  all  Republicans."  Still  it  was  subsequently 
found  that  the  Constitution  allowed  some  latitude  of  construction. 
Consequently,  those  who  approved  of  a  liberal  construction,  in 
favor  of  the  General  Government,  still  retained  the  name  of  Fede- 
ralists; while  those  who  were  in  favor  of  a  strict  construction,  not 
allowing  the  Central  Government  one  hair's  breadth  more  of 
power  than  the  letter  of  the  Constitution  demanded,  retained  the 
name  of  Republicans. 

The  opposition  of  the  Federal  party  to  the  war  with  England, 
and  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  of  John  Adams,  brought  the 
party  into  dispute  ;  and  the  name  of  Federalist  became  a  reproach. 
Mr.  Buchanan,  almost  immediately  upon  entering  Congress,  began 
to  incline  more  and  more  to  the  policy  of  the  Republicans. 

As  a  member  of  Congress,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  faithful  to  his 
duties.  He  was  always  in  his  seat,  and  took  an  active  part  in 
every  important  question.  The  speeches  which  he  made  indi- 
cated great  care  in  their  preparation,  and  were  distinguished  for 
depth  of  thought  and  persuasive  eloquence.  The  great  question, 
as  to  the  power  of  the  National  Government  to  promote  internal 
improvements,  agitated  Congress.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  Republicans,  and  voted  against  any  appropriation 
to  repair  the  Cumberland  Road.  The  bill,  however,  passed  Con- 
gress. President  Monroe  vetoed  it.  Mr.  Buchanan  argued  that 
Congress  was  not  authorized  to  establish  a  protective  tariff;  that  it 
was  authorized  to  impose  a  tariff  for  revenue  only.  In  an  earnest 
speech  upon  this  subject,  he  said,  — 


JAMES  BUCHANAN.  855 

'''  If  I  know  myself,  I  am  a  politician  neither  of  the  East  nor 
of  the  West,  of  the  North  nor  of  the  South.  I  therefore  shall 
forever  avoid  any  expressions,  the  direct  tendency  of  which  must 
be  to  create  sectional  jealousies,  and  at  length  disunion,  —  that 
worst  and  last  of  all  political  calamities." 

In  the  stormy  presidential  election  of  1824,  in  which  Jackson, 
Clay,  Crawford,  and  John  Quincy  Adams,  were  candidates,  Mr. 
Buchanan  espoused  the  cause  of  Gen.  Jackson,  and  unrelentingly 
opposed  the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams.  When  our  Govern- 
ment undertook  the  singular  task  of  regulating  the  dress  in 
which  our  ambassadors  should  appear  in  foreign  courts,  prohibit- 
ing the  court-costume  which  most  of  those  monarchs  required, 
Mr.  Buchanan  supported  the  measure. 

"  Imagine,"  said  he,  "  a  grave  and  venerable  statesman,  who 
never  attended  a  militia-training  in  his  life,  but  who  has  been 
elevated  to  the  station  of  a  foreign  minister  in  consequence  of 
his  civil  attainments,  appearing  at  court,  arrayed  in  this  military 
coat,  with  a  chapeau  under  his  arm,  and  a  small  sword  dangling 
at  his  side  !  What  a  ridiculous  spectacle  would  a  grave  lawyer  or 
judge  of  sixty  years  of  age  present,  arrayed  in  such  a  costume  ! " 

Gen.  Jackson,  upon  his  elevation  to  the  presidency,  appointed 
Mr.  Buchanan  minister  to  Russia.  The  duties  of  his  mission  he 
performed  with  ability,  which  gave  satisfaction  to  all  parties. 
Upon  his  return,  in  1833,  he  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  United- 
States  Senate.  He  there  met,  as  his  associates,  Webster,  Clay, 
Wright,  and  Calhoun.  He  advocated  the  measure  proposed  by 
President  Jackson,  of  making  reprisals  against  France  to  enforce 
the  payment  of  our  claims  against  that  country ;  and  defended 
the  course  of  the  President  in  his  unprecedented  and  wholesale 
removals  from  office  of  those  who  were  not  the  supporters  of  his 
administration.  Upon  this  question,  he  was  brought  into  direct 
collision  with  Henry  Clay.  He  also,  with  voice  and  vote,  advo- 
cated expunging  from  the  journal  of  the  Senate  the  vote  of  cen- 
sure against  Gen.  Jackson  for  removing  the  deposits.  Earnestly 
he  opposed  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  urged  the  prohibition  of  the  circulation  of  antislavery  docu- 
ments by  the  United-States  mails. 

In  December,  1835,  there  was  a  fire  in  New  York,  which  con- 
sumed property  amouniing  to  eighteen  millions  of  dollars.  The 
merchants,  overwhelmed  by  this  calamity,  owed  the  United  States 


356  LIVES  OF   THE  PRESIDENTS. 

the  sum  of  three  million  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  A  bill 
was  introduced  for  their  relief,  simply  asking  for  an  extension  of 
payment,  with  ample  security.  Generously  and  eloquently  Mr. 
Buchanan  advocated  the  bill.  In  the  discussion  of  the  question 
respecting  the  admission  of  Michigan  and  Arkansas  into  the 
Union,  Mr.  Buchanan  "  defined  his  position  "  by  saying,  — 

"  The  older  I  grow,  the  more  I  am  inclined  to  be  what  is  called 
a  State-rights  man." 

As  to  petitions  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  he  advocated  that 
they  should  be  respectfully  received ;  and  that  the  reply  should 
be  returned,  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  legislate  upon  the 
subject.  "  Congress,"  said  he,  "  might  as  well  undertake  to  inter- 
fere with  slavery  under  a  foreign  government  as  in  any  of  the 
States  where  it  now  exists."  Many  of  his  speeches  developed 
great  ability;  all,  earnestness  and  deep  conviction;  while  he 
invariably  treated  his  opponents  in  the  most  courteous  manner, 
never  allowing  himself  to  exhibit  the  slightest  irritation. 

M.  de  Tocqueville,  in  his  renowned  work  upon  "  Democracy  in 
America,"  foresaw  the  trouble  which  was  inevitable  from  the 
doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  as  held  by  Calhoun  and  Buchanan. 
He  was  convinced  that  the  National  Government  was  losing  that 
strength  which  was  essential  to  its  own  existence,  and  that  the 
States  were  assuming  powers  which  threatened  the  perpetuity  of 
the  Union.  Mr.  Buchanan  reviewed  this  book  in  the  Senate,  and 
declared  the  fears  of  De  Tocqueville  to  be  groundless :  and  yet  he 
lived  to  sit  in  the  presidential  chair,  and  see  State  after  State,  in 
accordance  with  his  own  views  of  State  rights,  breaking  from  the 
Union,  thus  crumbling  our  republic  into  ruins  ;  while  the  un- 
happy old  man  folded  his  arms  in  despair,  declaring  tliat  the 
National  Constitution  invested  him  with  no  power  to  arrest 
the  destruction. 

When  Mr.  Tyler  succeeded  President  Harrison,  and,  to  the 
excessive  disappointment  of  the  Whigs,  vetoed  their  bank  bill, 
Mr.  Buchanan  warmly  commended  his  course.  In  reply  to  the 
argument,  that  Mr.  Tyler  ought  to  have  signed  the  bill  in  fidelity 
to  the  party  which  elected  him,  he  said,  — 

"  If  he  had  approved  that  bill,  he  would  have  deserved  to  be 
denounced  as  a  self-destroyer,  as  false  to  the  whole  course  of  his 
past  life,  false  to  every  principle  of  honor,  and  false  to  the  sacred 
obligation  of  his  oath  to  support  the  Constitution." 


JAMES  BUCHANAN.  357 

Mr.  Buchanan  opposed  the  ratification  of  the  Webster-Ash- 
burton  Treaty  in  reference  to  our  North-eastern  boundary  ;  and 
advocated  the  annexation  of  Texas,  that  it  might  be  cut  up  into 
slave  States,  "  to  afford  that  security  to  the  Southern  and  South- 
western slave  States  which  they  have  a  right  to  demand."  Upon 
Mr.  Polk's  accession  to  the  presidency,  Mr.  Buchanan  became 
Secretary  of  State,  and,  as  such,  took  his  share  of  the  responsi- 
bility in  the  conduct  of  the  Mexican  War.  Mr.  Polk  assumed 
that  crossing  the  Nueces  by  the  American  troops  into  the  dis- 
puted territory  was  not  wrong,  but  for  the  Mexicans  to  cross 
the  Rio  Grande  into  that  territory  was  a  declaration  of  war.  No 
candid  man  can  read  with  pleasure  the  account  of  the  course  our 
Government  pursued  in  that  movement.  At  the  close  of  Mr. 
Polk's  administration,  Mr.  Buchanan  retired  to  private  life  ;  but 
still  his  intellectual  ability,  and  great  experience  as  a  statesman, 
enabled  him  to  exert  a  powerful  private  influence  in  national 
affairs. 

He  identified  himself  thoroughly  and  warmly  with  the  party 
devoted  to  the  perpetuation  and  extension  of  slavery,  and  brought 
all  the  energies  of  his  mind  to  bear  against  the  Wilmot  Proviso. 
He  gave  his  cordial  approval  to  the  compromise  measures  of  1850, 
which  included  the  fugitive-slave  law.  Mr.  Pierce,  upon  his  elec- 
tion to  the  presidency,  honored  Mr.  Buchanan  with  the  mission  to 
England.  The  plan  then  arose  to  purchase  Cuba.  It  was  feared 
that  Spain  might  abolish  slavery  in  Cuba,  and  thus  endanger  the 
institution  in  our  Southern  States.  To  consider  this  important 
question,  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  Messrs.  Mason  and  Soule,  our  minis- 
ters to  France  and  Spain,  met  at  Ostend.  The  substance  of  the 
result  of  their  deliberations  is  contained  in  the  following  words  :  — 

"After  we  shall  have  offered  Spain  a  price  for  Cuba  far  beyond 
its  present  value,  and  this  shall  have  been  refused,  it  will  then  be 
time  to  consider  the  question,  '  Does  Cuba,  in  the  possession  of 
Spain,  seriously  endanger  our  internal  peace  and  the  existence 
of  our  cherished  Union?'  Should  this  question  be  answered  in 
the  afiirmative,  then  by  every  law,  human  and  divine,  we  shall 
be  justified  in  wresting  it  from  Spain,  if  we  possess  the  power." 

This  Ostend  Manifesto  created  intense  excitement,  both  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe  ;  but  our  own  internal  troubles  which  soon 
arose  caused  it  to  be  forgotten.  In  the  year  1856,  a  national  Demo- 
cratic convention  nominated  Mr.  Buchanan  for  the  presidency.    In 


858  LIVES  OF   THE  PRESIDEXTS. 

the  platform  adopted  by  the  convention,  it  was  stated,  in  connec- 
tion with  other  principles  to  which  all  parties  would  assent,  "  that 
Congress  has  no  power  under  the  Constitution  to  interfere  with 
or  control  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  several  States  :  that 
the  foregoing  proposition  covers  the  whole  subject  of  slavery  agi- 
tation in  Congress ;  that  the  Democratic  party  will  adhere  to  a 
faithful  execution  of  the  compromise  measures,  the  act  of  reclaim- 
ing fugitives  from  service  or  labor  included  ;  that  the  Democratic 
party  will  resist  all  attempts  at  renewing,  in  Congress  or  out  of  it, 
the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  under  whatever  shape  or 
color  the  attempt  may  be  made  ;  and  that  the  American  Democ- 
racy recognize  and  adopt  the  principles  of  non-interference  by 
Congress  with  slavery  in  State  and  Territory,  or  in  the  District  of 
Columbia." 

The  political  conftict  was  one  of  the  most  sevei*e  in  which  our 
country  has  ever  engaged.  All  the  friends  of  slavery  were  on 
one  side  ;  all  the  advocates  of  its  restriction  and  final  abolition. 
on  the  other.  Mr.  Fremont,  the  candidate  of  the  enemies  of 
slavery,  received  114  electoral  votes.  Mr.  Buchanan  received  174. 
and  was  elected.  The  popular  vote  stood  1,340,618  for  Fremont, 
1,224,750  for  Buchanan.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1857,  Mr.  Buchan- 
an was  inaugurated  President.  The  crowd  which  attended  was 
immense,  and  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  was  greeted  had 
never  been  surpassed.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  a  man  of  imposing  per- 
sonal appearance,'  an  accomplished  gentleman,  endowed  with 
superior  abilities  improved  by  the  most  careful  culture,  and  no 
word  had  ever  been  breathed  against  the  purity  of  his  moral  char- 
acter. His  long  experience  as  a  legislator,  and  the  exalted  offices 
he  had  filled  at  home  and  abroad,  eminently  fitted  him  for  the  sta- 
tion he  was  called  to  fill.  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  his 
administration  would  probably  have  been  a  success. 

But  such  storms  arose  as  the  country  had  never  experienced 
before.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  far  advanced  in  life.  But  four  years 
were  wanting  to  fill  up  his  threescore  years  and  ten.  His  own 
friends,  those  with  whom  he  had  been  allied  in  political  principles 
and  action  for  years,  were  seeking  the  destruction  of  the  Govern- 
ment, that  they  might  rear  upon  the  ruins  of  our  free  institutions 
a  nation  whose  corner-stone  shoulS  be  human  slavery.  In  this 
emergency,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  hopelessly  bewildered.  He  could 
not,  with  his  long-avowed  principles,  consistently  oppose  the  State- 


JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


359 


rights  party  in  their  assumptions.  As  President  of  the  United 
States,  bound  by  his  oath  faithfully  to  administer  the  laws,  he 
could  not,  without  perjury  of  the  grossest  kind,  unite  with  those 
endeavoring  to  overthrow  the  republic.     He  therefore  did  nothing. 


■^ 


INVASION  OF   KANSAS. 


In  August,  1857,  a  correspondence  took  place  between  a  num 
ber  of  gentlemen  of  distinction  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  and  Presi- 
dent Buchanan,  which,  in  consequence  of  its  having  been  made 
public  by  the  President,  has  become  historic.  As  this  correspond- 
ence develops  very  clearly  most  of  the  points  at  issue  between 
President  Buchanan  and  the  great  Republican  party  which  elected 
President  Lincoln,  we  shall  quote  freely  from  it.  Impartiality  will 
be  secured  by  allowing  each  of  the  parties  to  speak  in  its  own 
language.  The  circumstances  which  called  forth  the  correspond- 
ence were  as  follows  :  — 

After  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  a  struggle  began, 
between  the  supporters  of  slavery  and  the  advocates  of  freedom, 
for  the  possession  of  the  Territory  of  Kansas  by  population  and 
settlement.     The  more  vigorous  emigration  from  the  free  States, 


oGO  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

induced  by  voluntary  organizations  to  favor  it,  soon  resulted  in  a 
large  excess  of  population  in  favor  of  freedom.  To  wrest  from 
this  majority  their  proper  control  in  the  legislation  and  regula- 
tion of  this  Territory,  large  organized  and  armed  mobs  repeatedly 
passed  over  from  the  contiguous  State  of  Missouri,  and  appeared 
in  force  at  the  polls.  We  have  described  these  occurrences  with 
some  particularity  in  the  sketch  of  President  Pierce. 

They  drove  away  the  regularly  constituted  inspectors  of  elec- 
tion, and  substituted  their  own,  who  received  the  votes  of  the 
mob  without  scruple.  In  some  instances,  lists  of  fictitious  votes 
were  returned  under  feigned  names ;  and  representatives  of  the 
Missouri  mob  were  thereby  furnished  by  the  fraudulent  inspectors 
with  regular  forms  of  election.  Unfortunately,  the  territorial 
governor  of  Kansas  (Reeder),  embarrassed  by  these  regular  forms, 
and  not  knowing  how  far  he  would  be  justified  in  disputing  them, 
did  not,  in  all  instances,  withhold  his  certificates  from  these  fraud- 
ulent claimants  to  seats  in  the  legislature  long  enough  for  the 
people  to  bring  evidence  of  the  fraud.  The  administrations  of 
both  Presidents  Pierce  and  Buchanan,  and  the  supporters  of  those 
administrations,  strongly  proslavery  in  their  sympathies,  upheld 
this  iniquitously  chosen  legislature  in  its  authority  and  acts. 

Gov.  Walker,  who  succeeded  Gov.  Reeder,  in  a  public  address 
to  the  citizens  of  Kansas,  announoed  that  President  Buchanan 
was  determined  to  sustain  this  legislature,  thus  mob  elected,  as  - 
the  lawful  legislature  of  Kansas  ;  and  that  its  acts  would  be  en- 
forced by  executive  authority  and  by  the  army.  This  announce- 
ment created  intense  excitement  with  the  advocates  of  liberty  all 
over  the  Union. 

About  forty  of  the  most  distinguished  gentlemen  of  New  Ha- 
ven, embracing  such  names  as  Benjamin  Silliman,  A.  C.  Twining, 
Nathaniel  W.  Taylor,  Theodore  Woolsey,  Charles  L.  English,  and 
Leonard  Bacon,  sent  a  Memorial  to  the  President  upon  this  sub- 
ject. It  has  recently  appeared,  in  the  published  Life  of  Pro- 
fessor Silliman,  that  the  paper  was  from  the  pen  of  Professor 
A.  C.  Twining,  LL.D.     It  reads  as  follows:  — 

"to    his    excellency    JAMES    BUCHAXAN,    PRESIDEXT    OF    THE     UXITED 

STATES. 

'•'  The  undersigned,  citizens  of  the  L'nited  States,  and  electors 
of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  respectfully  offer  to  your  Excellency 
this  Memorial :  — 


JAMES  BUCHANAN.  361 

"  The  fundamental  principle  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  our  political  institutions,  is,  that  the  people  shall 
make  their  own  laws,  and  elect  their  own  rulers. 

"  We  see  with  grief,  if  not  with  astonishment,  that  Gov.  Walk 
er  of  Kansas  openly  represents  and  proclaims  that  the  President 
of  the  United  States  is  employing  through  him  an  army,  one 
purpose  of  which  is  to  force  the  people  of  Kansas  to  obey  laws 
not  their  own,  nor  of  the  United  States,  but  laws  which  it  is 
notorious,  and  established  upon  evidence,  they  never  made,  and 
rulers  they  never  elected. 

"  We  represent,  therefore,  that,  by  the  foregoing,  your  Excel- 
lency is  openly  held  up  and  proclaimed,  to  the  great  derogation 
of  our  national  character,  as  violating  in  its  most  essential  par- 
ticular the  solemn  oath  Avhich  the  President  has  taken  to  sup- 
port the  Constitution  of  this  Union. 

"  We  call  attention  further  to  the  fact,  that  your  Excellency  is 
in  like  manner  held  up  to  this  nation,  to  all  mankind,  and  to  all 
posterity,  in  the  attitude  of  levying  war  against  a  portion  of  the 
United  States,  by  employing  arms  in  Kansas  to  uphold  a  body  of 
men,  and  a  code  of  enactments,  purporting  to  be  legislative,  but 
which  never  had  the  election  nor  the  sanction  nor  the  consent  of 
the  people  of  that  Territory. 

"  We  earnestly  represent  to  your  Excellency,  that  we  also  have 
taken  the  oath  to  obey  the  Constitution  ;  and  your  Excellency 
may  be  assured  that  we  shall  not  refrain  from  the  prayer  that 
Almighty  God  will  make  your  administration  an  example  of  jus- 
tice and  beneficence,  and,  with  his  terrible  majesty,  protect  our 
peopk  and  our  Constitution." 

To  this,  which  was  called  the  Silliman  Letter,  the  President 
returned  a  very  carefully-written  reply  from  his  own  hand,  cov- 
ering seventeen  folio  pages.  As  he  was  well  aware  that  the  dis- 
tinguished character  of  the  memorialists  would  stamp  the  Memorial 
with  importance,  and  attract  to  it  national  attention,  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  he  took  counsel  in  its  preparation,  and  presented 
those  arguments  upon  which  he  and  his  cabinet  wished  to  rely 
with  posterity  in  defence  of  their  measures.  After  some  pre- 
liminary remarks,  which  had  but  little  bearing  upon  the  points 
at  issue,  he  said, — 

"  Wlien  I  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  presidential  office,  on 

46 


362  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

the  4th  of  March  last,  what  was  the  condition  of  Kansas  ?  This 
Territory  had  been  organized  under  the  act  of  Congress  of  30th 
May,  1854 ;  and  the  government,  in  all  its  branches,  was  in  full 
operation.  A  governor,  secretary  of  the  Territory,  cliief  justice, 
two  associate  justices,  a  marshal,  and  district  attorney,  had  been 
appointed  by  my  predecessor,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  Senate  ;  and  were  all  engaged  in  discharging  their  respec- 
tive duties.  A  code  of  laws  had  been  enacted  by  the  territorial 
legislature ;  and  the  judiciary  were  employed  in  expounding 
and  carrying  these  laws  into  effect.  It  is  quite  true  that  a  con- 
troversy had  previously  arisen  respecting  the  validity  of  the 
election  of  members  of  the  territorial  legislature,  and  of  the  laws 
passed  by  them  ;  but,  at  the  time  I  entered  upon  my  oflScial 
duties.  Congress  had  recognized  the  legislature  in  diflferent 
forms  and  by  different  enactments. 

"The  delegate  elected  by  the  House  of  Representatives  under 
a  territorial  law  had  just  completed  his  term  of  service  on  the 
day  previous  to  my  inauguration.  In  fact,  I  found  the  govern- 
ment of  Kansas  as  well  established  as  that  of  any  other  Terri- 
tory. 

"  Under  these  circumstances,  what  was  my  duty  ?  Was  it  not 
to  sustain  this  government  ?  to  protect  it  from  the  violence  of 
lawless  men  who  were  determined  either  to  rule  or  ruin  ?  to 
prevent  it  from  being  overturned  by  force  ?  in  the  language  of 
the  Constitution,  '  to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  exe- 
cuted '  ?  It  was  for  this  purpose,  and  this  alone,  that  I  ordered 
a  military  force  to  Kansas,  to  act  as  a  posse  comitatus  in  aiding 
the  civil  magistrate  to  carry  the  laws  into  execution. 

"  The  condition  of  the  Territory  at  the  time,  which  I  need  not 
portray,  rendered  this  precaution  absolutely  necessary.  In  this 
state  of  affairs,  would  I  not  have  been  justly  condemned,  had  I 
left  the  marshal,  and  other  officers  of  like  character,  impotent 
to  execute  the  process  and  judgments  of  courts  of  justice  estab- 
lished by  Congress,  or  by  the  territorial  legislature  under  its 
express  authorit}^  and  thus  have  suffered  the  government  itself 
to  become  an  object  of  contempt  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  ?  And 
yet  this  is  what  you  designate  as  forcing  '  the  people  of  Kansas 
to  obey  laws  not  their  own,  nor  of  the  United  States  ;  '  and  for 
doing  which,  you  have  denounced  me  as  having  violated  my 
solemn  oath. 


JAMES  BUCHANAN.  363 

"  I  ask,  What  else  could  I  have  done,  or  ought  I  to  have  done? 
Would  you  have  desired  that  I  should  abandon  the  territorial 
government,  sanctioned  as  it  had  been  by  Congress,  to  illegal 
violence,  and  thus  renew  the  scenes  of  civil  war  and  bloodshed 
which  every  patriot  in  the  country  had  deplored?  This  would 
have  been,  indeed,  to  violate  my  oath  of  ofBce,  and  to  fix  a  dam- 
ning blot  on  the  character  of  my  administration. 

"  I  most  cheerfully  admit  that  the  necessity  for  sending  a 
military  force  to  Kansas  to  aid  in  the  execution  of  the  civil  law 
reflects  no  credit  upon  the  character  of  our  country.  But  let 
the  blame  fall  upon  the  heads  of  the  guilty.  Whence  did  this 
necessity  arise  ?  A  portion  of  the  people  of  Kansas,  unwilling  to 
trust  to  the  ballot-bos,  —  the  certain  American  remedy  for  the 
redress  of  all  grievances,  —  undertook  to  create  an  independent 
government  for  themselves.  Had  this  attempt  proved  successful, 
it  would,  of  course,  have  subverted  the  existing  government 
prescribed  and  recognized  by  Congress,  and  substituted  a  revo- 
lutionary government  in  its  stead. 

"  This  was  a  usurpation  of  the  same  character  as  it  would  be 
for  a  portion  of  the  people  of  Connecticut  to  undertake,  to  estab- 
lish a  separate  government  within  its  chartered  limits,  for  the 
purpose  of  redressing  any  grievance,  real  or  imaginary,  of  which 
they  might  have  complained  against  the  legitimate  State  Gov- 
ernment, Such  a  principle,  if  carried  into  execution,  would 
destroy  all  lawful  authority,  and  produce  universal  anarchy. 

"  I  ought  to  specify  more  particularly  a  condition  of  affairs 
which  I  have  embraced  only  in  general  terms,  requiring  the 
presence  of  a  military  force  in  Kansas.  The  Congress  of  the 
United  States  had  most  wisely  declared  it  to  be  '  the  true  intent 
and  meaning  of  this  act '  (the  act  organizing  the  Territory)  '  not 
to  legislate  slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State,  nor  to  exclude  it 
therefrom,  but  to  leave  the  people  thereof  perfectly  free  to  form 
and  regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way,  subject 
only  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.' 

"  As  a  natural  consequence,  Congress  has  also  prescribed  by 
the  same  act,  that,  when  the  Territory  of  Kansas  shall  be  admitted 
as  a  State,  it  '  shall  be  received  into  the  Union,  with  or  without 
slavery,  as  their  Constitution  may  prescribe  at  the  time  of  their 
admission.'  Slavery  existed  at  that  period,  and  still  exists,  in 
Kansas,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.     This  point 


364  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

has  at  last  been  finally  decided  by  the  highest  tribunal  known 
to  our  laws.  How  it  could  ever  have  been  seriously  doubted,  is  to 
me  a  mystery.  If  a  confederation  of  sovereign  States  acquire  a 
new  Territory  at  the  expense  of  the  common  blood  and  treasure, 
surely  one  set  of  the  partners  can  have  no  right  to  exclude  the 
other  from  its  enjoyment  by  prohibiting  them  from  taking  into  it 
whatsoever  is  recognized  as  property  by  the  common  Constitu- 
tion. 

\'  But  when  the  people,*  the  hond-Jide  residents  of  such  Territory, 
proceed  to  frame  a  State  Constitution,  then  it  is  their  right  to  de- 
cide the  important  question  for  themselves,  —  whether  they  will 
continue,  modify,  or  abolish  slavery.  To  them,  and  to  them  alone, 
does  this  question  belong,  free  from  all  foreign  interference.  In 
the  opinion  of  the  territorial  legislature  of  Kansas,  the  time  had 
arrived  for  entering  the  Union  ;  and  they  accordingly  passed  a 
law  to  elect  delegates  for  the  purpose  of  framing  a  State  consti- 
tution. This  law  was  fair  and  just  in  its  provisions.  It  conferred 
the  right  of  suffrage  on  '  every  hond-fide  inhabitant  of  the  Ter- 
ritory,'f  and,  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  fraud  and  the  intru- 
sion of  citizens  of  near  or  distant  States,  most  properly  confined 
this  right  to  those  who  had  resided  there  three  months  previous 
to  the  election. 

"  Here  a  fair  opportunity  was  presented  for  all  the  qualified 
resident  citizens  of  the  Territory,  to  whatever  organization  they 

*  It  is  to  be  observed  that  President  Buchanan  limits  the  term  people  to  mean  white 
people  only.  If  a  man  had  the  slightest  tinge  of  colored  blood  in  his  veins,  he  was  not 
to  be  considered  as  one  of  the  people.  If  there  were  two  hundred  thousand  colored  per- 
sons in  the  State,  and  one  hundred  thousand  white  persons,  it  was  "  most  wisely 
declared  "  that  these  white  persons  should  be  permitted  to  decide  whether  these  colored 
persons  should  work  for  them,  without  wages,  in  lifelong  bondage.  It  was  "  most  wisely 
declared  "  that  James  Buchanan,  a  white  man,  should  be  permitted  to  decide  whether 
Frederick  Douglas,  a  colored  ma??,  and  in  no  respect  his  inferior,  either  morally,  intellect- 
ually, or  physically,  should  be  compelled  to  black  his  boots,  and  groom  his  horse,  from 
the  cradle  to  the  grave  ;  and  shouldJames  Buchanan  thus  decide,  and  should  Frederick 
Douglas  make  any  objection  to  the  decision,  "  illegal,  unjustifiable,  unconstitutional," 
then  it  was  fitting  that  a  United-States  army  should  be  sent  under  the  "  stars  and  the 
stripes "  to  compel  Frederick  Douglas  to  ply  the  shoebrush  and  the  curry-comb  for 
James  Buchanan.     And  this  was  called  democracy,  "  equal  rights  for  all "  ! 

t  Colored  persons,  no  matter  how  intelligent,  wealthy,  or  refined,  were  no  more  con- 
sidered inhabitants  than  they  were  considered  people.  As  Mr.  Buchanan  employs  these 
words  with  a  significance  different  from  that  in  which  they  are  defined  in  every  English 
dictionary,  it  is  necessary  to  explain  the  sense  in  which  he  uses  them  in  order  to  make 
his  meaning  clear. 


JAMES  BUCHANAN.  365 

might  have  previously  belonged,  to  participate  in  the  election,  and 
to  express  their  opinions  at  the  ballot-box  on  the  question  of 
slavery.  But  numbers  of  lawless  men  *  still  continue  to  resist 
the  regular  territorial  government.  They  refused  either  to  be 
registered  or  to  vote,  and  the  members  of  the  convention  were 
elected  legally  and  properly  without  their  intervention. 

"  The  convention  will  soon  assemble  to  perform  the  solemn 
duty  of  framing  a  constitution  for  themselves  and  their  posterity  ; 
and,  in  the  state  of  incipient  rebellion  f  which  still  exists  in  Kansas, 
it  is  m}''  imperative  duty  to  employ  the  troops  of  the  United  States, 
should  this  become  necessary,  in  defending  the  convention  against 
violence  while  framing  the  constitution ;  and  in  protecting  the 
bond-fide  inhabitants  qualified  to  vote  under  the  provisions  of  this 
instrument  in  the  free  exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  when  it 
shall  be  submitted  to  them  for  their  approbation  or  rejection. 

"  Following  the  wise  example  of  Mr.  Madison  towards  the  Hart- 
ford Convention,  illegal  and  dangerous  combinations,  such  as  that 
of  the  Topeka  Convention,  will  not  be  disturbed,  unless  they  shall 
attempt  to  perform  some  act  which  will  bring  them  into  actual 
collision  with  the  Constitution  and  the  laws." 

The  above  contains  the  whole  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  reply  bearing 
upon  the  points  at  issue.  As  this  question  was  so  all-absorbing 
during  his  administration,  and  created  such  intense  excitement 
throughout  the  whole  country,  justice  to  Mr.  Buchanan  seemed  to 
demand  that  his  views,  which  were  cordially  accepted  and  in- 
dorsed by  his  party,  should  be  fully  unfolded.  This  reply,  Presi- 
dent Buchanan  caused  to  be  published,  with  the  Memorial ;  and  it 
was  very  widely  circulated.  By  the  friends  of  his  administration, 
it  was  declared  to  be  triumphant.  The  rejoinder  on  the  part  of 
the  memorialists  consisted  of  an  address  to  the  public,  also  from 
the  pen  of  Professor  Twining.  It  is  too  long  to  be  quoted  ;  but 
its  substance  is  contained  in  the  following  extracts :  — 

*  These  "  lawless  men  "  were  the  free-State  men  of  Kansas,  who  met  in  conventnsn, 
and  passed  the  resolve,  "  That  the  body  of  men  who  for  the  last  two  months  have  been 
passing  laws  for  the  people  of  our  Territory,  moved,  counselled,  and  dictated  to  by  the 
demagogues  of  Missouri,  are  to  us  a  foreign  body,  representing  only  the  lawless  invad- 
ers who  elected  them,  and  not  the  people  of  the  Territory ;  that  we  repudiate  their  ac- 
tion as  the  monstrous  consummation  of  an  act  of  violence,  usurpation,  and  fraud,  unpar- 
alleled in  the  history  of  the  Union." 

t  These  rebels  were  those  who  objected  to  the  State  being  ruled  by  "  border-ruffians  " 
from  Missouri. 


366  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"  No  man  will  question  that  the  inhabitants  of  Kansas,  by  theii 
Organic  Act,  became  possessed  of  the  same  elective  privilege 
with  the  people  of  a  State,  just  so  far,  at  least,  as  that  act  entitles 
them  to  it.  Since,  therefore,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Consti- 
tution extends  its  protection  over  the  elective  franchise  in  that 
Territory  as  fully  as  in  any  State  of  the  Union,  it  follows  that  the 
employment  of  troops  to  compel  obedience  to  a  notoriously  non- 
elected  and  therefore  usurping  body,  would,  if  performed  in  a 
sovereign  State,  Connecticut  for  example,  be  no  more  fully  an  un- 
constitutional act,  no  more  really  levying  war  against  a  portion  of 
the  United  States,  than  if  performed  in  Kansas. 

"  Are  we,  inhabitants  of  the  comparatively  feeble  State  of  Con- 
necticut, to  hold  our  liberties  at  so  precarious  a  tenure,  that  if, 
hereafter,  thousands  of  armed  men  from  our  stronger  neighbor  in 
the  West  shall  make  an  incursion  among  us,  seize  our  ballot- 
boxes,  deposit  their  votes,  and  write  certificates  for  representa- 
tives of  their  own  choosing,  with  the  point  of  the  sword,  the 
President  of  this  Union  shall  assume  to  compel  our  obedience  *  by 
the  whole  power  of  the  G-overnmeut '  ?  Could  it  be  expected  that 
even  such  a  menace  would  drive  our  citizens  to  recognize  any 
valid  authority  in  a  mere  banditti,  because  of  their  possession  of 
the  stolen  and  empty  forms  of  law  and  government  ? 

"  It  has  been  denied  by  the  apologists  of  the  Missouri  invaders, 
that  what  is  called  the  Territorial  Legislature  of  Kansas  is,  in 
fact,  such  a  non-elected  and  usurping  body  as  we  have  just 
described.  How  stands  this  in  the  President's  reply?  Does 
that  reply  deny  that  the  body  referred  to  '  never  had  the  election 
nor  sanction  nor  consent  of  the  people  of  the  Territory  '  ?  Not  at 
all.  In  that  document,  emanating  from  so  high  a  source,  no  such 
denial  is  made.  Nay,  we  are  at  liberty  to  receive  it  as  more  ; 
even  as  being,  under  the  circumstances,  an  impressive  recogni- 
tion. And  yet,  while  he  does  not  deny  our  chief  assertion  and 
fact,  the  President  justifies  the  employment  of  troops  to  uphold 
a  body  of  men  and  a  code  of  enactments  which  he  has  tacitly 
admitted  never  had  the  election  nor  sanction  nor  consent  of  the 
people  of  the  Territory. 

"  But  the  President  puts  forward  a  vindication.  It  rests  almost 
entirely  upon  two  grounds,  which  we  feel  called  upon  briefly  to 
review.  The  first  ground  may  be  sufficiently  stated  by  a  single 
quotation  from  his  document :  '  At  the  time  I  entered  upon  my 


JAMES  BUCHANAN.  3(37 

official  duties,  Congress  had  recognized  this  legislature  in  differ- 
ent forms  and  by  different  enactments.' 

"  What  particular  forms  and  enactments  are  intended,  is,  with 
a  single  exception,  left  to  our  conjecture  ;  but  by  attentively 
considering  that  exception,  which  amounts  only  to  the  admission 
of  a  delegate  to  the  House  after  two  marked  rejections,  you  will 
clearly  apprehend  that  there  never  was  any  enactment  of  Con- 
gress from  which  any  thing  more  could  be  derived  than  some 
doubtful  or  imperfect  constructive  recognition  of  the  territorial 
body  referred  to. 

"  Our  first  answer,  then,  to  the  ground  of  vindication  above 
stated,  is  an  explicit  denial  that  any  joint  action  of  the  House  and 
the  Senate,  not  to  mention  the  President,  expressly  purporting  to 
recognize  or  make  valid  the  body  in  question,  can  be  found 
among  the  statutes  of  this  nation,  —  any  thing  approaching  in 
solemnity  the  Organic  Act.  Again  :  we  assert  that  the  Organic 
Act  stands  in  all  the  force  of  an  unrepealed  national  law.  And 
in  this  we  refer  especially  to  its  provisions  for  an  elective  represen- 
tation  of  the  people.  No  man  will  dispute  us  on  this  point.  That 
great  charter  of  popular  representation  in  Kansas  remains  unre- 
voked ;  and  it  is  undeniable,  that  the  fundamental  Organic  Act 
ought  to  and  must  control  all  side-issues.  Mere  implications 
cannot  be  construed  to  conflict  with  the  unmistakable  and  ex- 
press enactments  according  to  which  the  '  duly  elected '  legisla- 
tive assembly  shall  consist  of  the  persons  having  the  highest 
number  of  legal  votes,  and  with  the  intent  Ho  leave  the  people 
thereof  (i.e.  of  the  Territory)  free  to  regulate  their  domestic  insti- 
tutions in  their  own  way,  subject  (not  to  invaders,  but)  only  to  the 
Consiiiution  of  the  United  States.' 

'-  And  here  we  might  rest ;  for  here  our  answer  is  complete. 
But  we  go  farther,  and  deny  the  propriety  even  of  the  implica- 
tions claimed.  The  President  adduces  specifically  only  the 
admission  of  a  delegate  sent  to  the  House  by  the  supporters  of 
the  usurping  legislature.  Now,  it  is  enough  to  remark  in  reply, 
that,  although  the  admission  of  a  delegate  is  final  as  to  his  seat 
for  a  time,  it  has  not  even  force  to  oblige  a  succeeding  Congress 
not  to  exclude  him,  much  less  to  oblige  a  President  to  subju- 
gate a  Territory.  But  is  it  on  such  a  knife-edge  as  this  that  the 
franchise  of  a  whole  people  is  made  to  oscillate  and  tremble  ? 
and  is  this  the  logic  which  guides  our  statesmen  ? 


368  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"  To  adduce  a  meagre  vote  of  a  single  branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment as  an  act  of  Congress ;  to  adduce  it  as  such  in  the  face 
of  the  repeated  adverse  action  of  even  that  single  branch ;  to 
do  this  by  ignoring  the  procedures  of  that  same  branch,  which, 
acting  as  the  grand  inquest  of  the  nation,  had  sent  forth  the  details 
of  frauds  and  the  evidence  of  invalidity,  on  the  strength  of  which, 
as  contained  in  the  report  of  their  investigating  committee,  they 
had  formally  voted  to  abrogate  the  body  for  whom  their  sanction  is 
now  claimed ! 

"  The  Organic  Act,  and,  under  it,  the  fundamental  principle  of 
our  Constitution,  stand  in  full  force  in  Kansas.  But,  contrary  to 
that  act  and  that  principle,  a  body  of  men  are  assuming  to  legis- 
late, who  were  never  elected  or  sanctioned  by  the  people.  When, 
therefore,  the  President  oJBFers  his  oath  and  his  obligation  to  see 
the  laws  faithfully  executed,  as  a  plea  for  supporting  that  illegal 
body,  he  proposes  the  solecism,  that  his  obligation  to  the  laws 
binds  him  to  subvert  the  organic  law,  and  that  his  oath  to  pre- 
serve and  protect  the  Constitution  binds  him  to  contravene  the 
very  fundamental  element  of  the  Constitution. 

"  The  President's  other  ground  of  vindication  is  embraced  in 
the  following  extracts  :  '  I  found  the  government  of  Kansas  as 
well  established  as  that  of  any  other  Territory.  A  governor, 
secretary  of  the  Territory,  chief  justice,  two  associate  justices,  a 
marshal,  and  district  attorney,  had  been  appointed  by  my  prede- 
cessor, by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate.  A 
code  of  laws  had  been  enacted  by  the  territorial  legislature 
(mark  our  Italics),  and  the  judiciary  were  employed  in  carrying 
those  laws  into  effect.' 

''  We  assent  to  the  proposition,  that  if  the  bond-fide  settlers  of 
Kansas  have,  as  a  body,  given  their  sanction  and  consent  to  the 
representative  authority  of  the  territorial  legislature  above 
referred  to,  even  without  having  given  it  their  election,  and  if 
that  authority  is  of  force  to  execute  its  enactments  in  the  Terri- 
tory, it  constitutes  de  facto,  in  union  with  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment and  other  officers,  a  valid  republican  government;  but 
then  that  sanction,  it  is  obvious,  must  have  been  the  clear,  ex- 
plicit, unmistakable  act  of  the  majority.  How,  then,  does  the 
fact  stand  in  the  instance  before  you  ? 

"  So  far  from  such  sanction  or  consent  of  the  majority  being  in 
evidence,  or  even  presumable,  the  President's  reply  itself  sup- 


I 


JAMES  BUCHANAJf.  369 

plies  distinct  proof,  in  part,  to  the  reverse ;  and  facts  notorious 
to  common  information  supply  the  rest.  '  A  portion  of  the  people 
of  Kansas,'  you  read  in  the  reply,  '  undertook  to  create  an  inde- 
pendent government  for  themselves,'  '  continued  to  resist  the 
regular  territorial  government,'  and  even  '  refused  either  to  be 
registered  or  vote.' 

"A  ^ijortion  of  the  people^  have  always  acted  out  a  strong  pro- 
test. How  l^xgQ, 2b portion,  the  reply  does  not  state;  but  you  are 
aware,  from  good  authorities,  that  it  is  two-thirds  at  least,  and 
perhaps  four-fifths,  of  the  entire  population." 

After  showing  the  conclusive  evidence  ujDon  which  this  fact  is 
established,  evidence  which  no  one  now  calls  in  question,  the 
memorialists   continue,  — 

"  The  emphatic  protest  of  the  majority  in  Kansas,  which  was 
expressed  by  their  afore-mentioned  refusal  to  vote,  is  imputed 
to  them  by  the  President  as  a  political  and  public  wrong.  His 
language  is, 'A  portion  of  the  people  of  Kansas,  unwilling  to  trust 
to  the  ballot-box,  —  the  certain  American  remedy  for  the  redress 
of  all  grievances,  —  undertook  to  create  an  independent  govern- 
ment. Numbers  of  lawless  men  continued  to  resist  the  territo- 
rial legislature.  They  refused  either  to  be  registered  or  to 
vote.' 

"  The  resistance  of  these  lawless  men,  be  it  observed,  was 
merely  a  steady  refusal  to  vote,  or  to  recognize  the  pretended 
legislature.  But  were  they  indeed  unwilling  to  trust  the  ballot- 
box  ?  When  and  how?  Was  it  in  November,  1854,  when,  at 
the  first  election  for  a  delegate,  they  were  overpowered  by  par- 
ties of  armed  intruders,  who,  obtaining  violent  possession  of  the 
polls,  cast  about  six-tenths  the  entire  vote  of  the  Territory  ? 
Was  it  in  the  following  March,  when  thousands  of  armed  men 
from  Missouri,  with  tents,  provision-wagons,  music,  and  the  entire 
appointments  of  an  invading  army,  poured  into  Kansas,  occupied 
every  council  district,  took  possession  of  the  ballot-boxes,  and 
excluded  all  rightful  voters  whose  sentiments  were  not  agree- 
able to  them?  Has  it  been  at  any  subsequent  election,  every 
one  of  which  has  been  controlled  by  voters  from  Missouri?  Un- 
der these  circumstances,  which  are  all  open  to  the  light  of  day, 
the  reproachful  charge  of  being  '  unwilling  to  trust  to  the  ballot- 
box  '  cannot  reach  those  at  whom  it  is  aimed. 

"  Fellow-citizens,  we  know  not  why  the  President  should  have 

47 


370  UVES  OF  THE  PBESIDEIfTS. 

introduced  to  us  and  to  you  the  exciting  subject  of  slavery, 
respecting  which  our  Memorial  was  silent.  We  leave  his  start- 
ling assertions  on  that  subject,  without  any  other  comment  than 
that  our  silence  is  not  to  be  construed  into  any  assent." 

The  friends  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  administration,  North  and 
South,  were  satislBed  with  his  letter.  They  accepted  and  adopted 
the  views  it  expressed  as  a  triumphant  defence  of  the  policy 
which  the  Government  was  pursuing.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
opponents  of  the  administration  accepted  and  adopted  the  views 
contained  in  the  Memorial  of  the  New-Haven  gentlemen,  and  in 
their  response  to  the  President's  letter.  It  was  upon  this  very 
platform  that  the  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglass  planted  his  feet  so 
firmly,  and  in  defence  of  which  he  fought,  perhaps,  the  most  he- 
roic battle  everVaged  in  senatorial  halls.  This  was  essentially 
the  issue  which  was  presented  to  the  nation  in  the  next  presiden- 
tial election,  and  which  resulted  in  the  choice  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln by  an  overwhelming  majority  of  votes. 

In  the  great  excitement  which  this  state  of  things  created  in 
the  United  States,  the  opponents  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  administra- 
tion nominated  Abraham  Lincoln  as  their  standard-bearer  in  the 
next  presidential  canvass.  The  proslavery  party  declared,  that  if 
he  were  elected,  and  the  control  of  the  Government  were  thus 
taken  from  their  hands,  they  would  secede  from  the  Union,  taking 
with  them,  as  they  retired,  the  National  Capitol  at  Washington, 
and  the  lion's  share  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Buchanan's  sympathy  with  the  proslavery  party  was  such, 
that  he  had  been  willing  to  offer  them  far  more  than  they  had 
ventul'ed  to  claim.  All  that  the  South  had  professed  to  ask 
of  the  North  was  Tion-intervention  upon  the  subject  of  slavery. 
Mr.  Buchanan  had  been  ready  to  offer  them  the  active  co-opera- 
tion of  the  Government  to  defend  and  extend  the  institution.  In 
a  "  private  and  confidential  letter,"  addressed  to  Jeff.  Davis  in 
1850,  he  wrote,  in  reference  to  a  letter  which  he  was  urged  to 
have  published,  — 

"  From  a  careful  examination  of  the  proceedings  in  Congress, 
it  is  clear  that  noR-intervention  is  all  that  will  be  required  by  the 
South.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  would  be  madness  in  me  to 
publish  my  letter,  and  take  higher  ground  for  the  South  than  they 
have  taken  for  themselves.  This  would  be  to  out-Herod  Herod, 
and   to  be  more  Southern  than  the  South.     I  shall  be  assail-ed  by 


JAMES  BUCHAKAN.  371 

fanatics  and  free-soilers  as  long  as  I  live  for  having  gone  farther 
in  support  of  the  rights  of  the  South  than  Southern  senators  and 
representatives." 

As  the  storm  increased  in  violence,  the  slaveholders  claiming 
the  right  to  secede,  and  Mr.  Buchanan  avowing  that  Congress  had 
no  power  to  prevent  it,  one  of  the  most  pitiable  exhibitions  of 
governmental  imbecility  was  exhibited  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected,  the  slave- 
holding  States,  drilled  to  the  movement,  began  to  withdraw. 
Mr.  Buchanan  had  not  a  word  of  censure  for  them.  All  his 
rebukes  were  addressed  to  those  who  had  wished  to  prevent  the 
extension  of  slavery.  "  The  long-continued  and  intemperate  in- 
terference," he  said,  "  of  the  Northern  people  with  the  question 
of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States,  has  at  length  produced  its 
natural  effects."  He  declared  that  Congress  had  no  power  to 
enforce  its  laws  in  any  State  which  had  withdrawn,  or  which  was 
attempting  to  withdraw,  from  the  Union.  This  was  not  the  doc- 
trine of  Andrew  Jackson,  when,  with  his  hand  upon  his  sword- 
hilt,  he  exclaimed,  "The  Union  must  and  shall  be  preserved!" 
It  was  an  alarming  state  of  things  when  the  supreme  Executive 
declared  that  he  had  no  power  "  to  take  care  that  the  laws  be 
faithfully  executed." 

Innumerable  plans  of  concession  were  proposed ;  but  the  seces- 
sionists did  not  hesitate  to  avow  their  utter  contempt  for  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  and  to  spurn  its  advances,  Mr. 
Buchanan  approached  the  rebels  on  his  knees.  They  hastened  to 
avail  themselves  of  his  weakness,  and  to  accomplish  all  their  dis- 
organizing measures  before  his  successor  should  come  into  power. 

South  Carolina  seceded  in  December,  1860;  nearly  three  months 
before  the  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln.  Mr.  Buchanan 
looked  on  in  listless  despair.  The  rebel  flag  was  raised  in  Charles- 
ton ;  Fort  Sumter  was  besieged  ;  "  The  Star  of  the  West,"  in  en- 
deavoring to  carry  food  to  its  famishing  garrison,  was  fired  upon ; 
and  still  Mr.  Buchanan  sat  in  the  White  House,  wringing  his 
hands,  and  bemoaning  his  helplessness.  Our  forts,  navy-yards, 
and  arsenals  were  seized;  our  depots  of  military  stores  were  plun- 
dered ;  and  our  custom-houses  and  post-offices  were  appropriated 
by  the  rebels  :  and  all  that  President  Buchanan  could  do  was  to 
send  a  secret  messenger  to  Charleston  to  implore  the  rebels  to 


372  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

hold  back  their  hand  a  little  until  the  close  of  his  administration.* 
Members  of  his  cabinet  began  to  retire,  and  join  the  rebels,  after 
they  had  scattered  the  fleet,  and  robbed  the  arsenals  and  the  pub- 
lic treasure. 

The  energy  of  the  rebels,  and  the  imbecility  of  our  Executive, 
were  alike  marvellous.  Before  the  close  of  January,  the  rebels 
had  plundered  the  nation  of  millions  of  property,  had  occupied 
and  fortified  many  of  the  most  important  strategic  points,  had 
chosen  their  flag,  and  organized  their  government ;  while  President 
Buchanan  had  not  lifted  a  hand  to  check  them.  Tlie  nation  looked 
on  in  agony,  waiting  for  the  slow  weeks  to  glide  away,  and  close 
this  administration,  so  terrible  in  its  weakness. 

Gen.  Scott,  in  view  of  the  threatening  aspect  of  affairs,  called 
repeatedly  upon  President  Buchanan,  and  urged  that  strong  gar- 
risons should  be  sent  to  all  the  imperilled  forts.  Many  of  these 
forts  had  no  garrisons  at  all,  and  could  at  any  time  be  seized  and 
appropriated  by  the  rebels,  rendering  their  reconquest  costly  in 
both  blood  and  treasure.  Mr.  Buchanan  would  not  permit  them 
to  be  strengthened.  Gen.  Scott  entreated  that  at  least  a  circular 
might  be  sent  to  the  forts  where  there  were  garrisons,  giving 
them  Avarning  of  their  peril,  and  urging  them  to  be  on  the  alert. 
His  request  was  not  granted  until  it  was  too  late  to  be  of  avail. 

Had  Gen.  Scott's  plan  been  adopted,  it  would  have  placed 
all  the  arsenals  and  forts  commanding  tlie  Southern  rivers  and 
strategic  points  so  firmly  in  the  hands  of  the  National  Govern- 
ment, that  the  rebels  would  scarcely  have  ventured  to  attack 
them.  In  all  probability,  it  would  have  prevented  the  uprising. 
It  would  have  saved  the  country  four  thousand  millions  of  money, 
and  nearly  a  million  of  lives.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  mo- 
tives which  influenced  Mr.  Buchanan,  no  one  can  be  blind  as  to 
the  result  of  his  conduct.  Probably  history  may  be  searched  in 
vain  for  a  parallel  case,  in  which  the  chief  ruler  of  a  great  coun- 
try, the  secretary  of  war,  and  the  secretary  of  the  navy,  all  seemed 

*  "  By  the  middle  of  December,  Hon.  Caleb  Gushing,  of  Massachusetts,  was  de- 
spatched to  Charleston  by  President  Buchanan  as  a  commissioner  or  confidential  agent 
of  the  Executive.  His  errand  was  a  secret  one;  but,  so  far  as  its  object  was  allowed  to 
transpire,  he  was  understood  to  be  the  bearer  of  a  proffer  from  Mr.  Buchanan,  that  he 
would  not  attempt  to  re-enforce  Major  Anderson,  nor  initiate  any  hostilities  against  the 
secessionists,  provided  they  would  evince  a  like  pacific  spirit  by  I'espccting  the  Federal 
authorities  down  to  the  close  of  his  administration,  now  but  a  few  weeks  distant."  — 
TJie  American   Conflict,  by  Horace  Greeley,  vol.  i.  p.  409. 


JAMES  BUCHANAN.  373 

to  combine  to  leave  the  most  important  fortresses  of  the  nation  in 
as  defenceless  a  condition  as  possible,  when  arrogant  and  armed 
rebellion  was  threatening  their  capture.  Was  this  treachery? 
Was  it  imbecility  ? 

It  is  very  evident  that  for  some  reason  the  secessionists  had 
no  fear  that  President  Buchanan  would  place  any  obstacles  in  their 
path.  In  December,  1860,  Hon.  L.  M.  Keitt  was  serenaded  in 
Columbia,  S.C.  In  response,  he  made  a  speech,  in  which  he  is 
reported  to  have  said  as  follows  :  — 

"  South  Carolina  cannot  take  one  step  backwards  now  without 
receiving  the  curses  of  posterity.  South  Carolina,  single  and 
alone,  is  bound  to  go  out  of  this  accursed  Union.  J/r.  Buchanan 
is  pledged  to  secession,  and  I  mean  to  hold  him  to  it.  Take  }'our 
destinies  in  your  own  hands,  and  shatter  this  accursed  Union. 
South  Carolina  can  do  it  alone  ;  but,  if  she  cannot,  she  can  at 
least  throw  her  arms  around  the  pillars  of  the  Constitution,  and 
involve  all  the  States  in  a  common  ruin." 

When  South  Carolina,  under  the  leadership  of  John  C.  Calhoun, 
in  the  days  of  Andrew  Jackson's  presidency,  was  threatening  nul- 
lification and  secession.  Gen.  Scott  received  an  order  from  the 
War  Department  to  hasten  to  Washington.  He  arrived  in  the 
evening,  and  immediately  had  an  interview  with  the  President. 
"  The  Union  must  and  shall  be  preserved,"  said  Gen.  Jackson,  as 
he  inquired  of  Gen.  Scott  his  views  as  to  the  best  military  meas- 
ures to  be  adopted. 

Gen.  Scott  suggested  strong  garrisons  for  Fort  Moultrie,  Castle 
Pinckney,  and  for  the  arsenal  at  Augusta,  which  was  filled  with 
the  materiel  of  war.  Fort  Sumter  was  not  then  built.  He  also 
urged  that  a  sloop-of-war  and  several  armed  revenue-cutters 
should  be  immediately  sent  to  Charleston  Harbor. 

"  Proceed  at  once,"  said  Gen.  Jackson,  "  and  execute  those 
views.  I  give  you  carte  blanche  in  respect  to  troops..  The  vessels 
shall  be  there,  and  written  instructions  shall  follow  you." 

Under  these  persuasives,  nullification  and  secession  soon  came 
to  grief  There  surely  was  as  great  a  difference  in  the  treatment 
of  the  disease  by  Jackson  and  by  Buchanan  as  there  was  in  the 
results  of  that  treatment. 

At  length  the  long-looked-for  hour  of  deliverance  came,  when 
the  sceptre  was  to  fall  from  the  powerless  hands  of  Mr.  Buchanan, 
and  to  be  grasped  by  another,  who  would  wield  it  with  more  of 


374  LIVES  OF  THE  PnESIDEJVTS. 

the  dignity  and  energy  becoming  the  chief  ruler  of  one  of  the 
most  powerful  nations  on  the  globe.  It  w.js  the  4th  of  March, 
1861.  Attempts  had  been  made  by  the  rebels  to  assassinate 
Abraham  Lincoln  on  his  journey  to  Washington.  Very  narrowly 
he  escaped.  It  was  deemed  necessary  to  adopt  the  most  care- 
ful precautions  to  secure  him  from  assassination  on  the  day  of 
his  inauguration.  Mr.  Buchanan  remained  in  Washington  to  see 
his  successor  installed,  and  then  retired  to  his  home  in  Wheat- 
land. 

The  administration  of  President  Buchanan  was  certainly  the 
most  calamitous  our  country  has  experienced.  His  best  friends 
cannot  recall  it  with  pleasure.  And  still  more  deplorable  it  is 
for  his  fame,  that,  in  the  dreadful  conflict  which  rolled  its  billows 
of  flame  and  blood  over  our  whole  laud,  no  word  came  from  the  lips 
of  President  Buchanan  to  indicate  his  wish  that  our  country's  ban- 
ner should  triumph  over  the  flag  of  rebellion.  He  might  by  a 
few  words  have  rendered  the  nation  the  most  signal  service  ;  but 
those  words  were  not  spoken.  He  still  lives,  in  the  fall  of  1866,  in 
his  beautiful  retreat  at  Wheatland,  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy- 
five. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


ABRAHAM     LINCOLN. 

\ 

Life  in  a  Log-cabin.  —  Excellence  of  Character  early  developed.  —  A  Day-laborer.  —  A 
Boatman.  —  A  Shopkeeper.  —  A  Student.  —  A  Legislator.  —  A  Lawyer.  —  A  Member  of 
Congi-ess.  —  A  Political  Speaker. —  The  Debate  with  Douglas.  —  Eloquence  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln.—  Nominated  for  the  Presidency.  —  Habits  of  Temperance.  —  His  Sentiments. — 
Anecdotes.  —  Acts  of  his  Administration.  —  His  Assassination. 

In  the  interior  of  the  State  of  Kentucky,  there  is  the  county  of 
Larue.     Even  now,  it  is  but  sparsely  populated.      Seventy-iive 


KESIUENCI-:  OF  ABUAItAM   LINCOLX. 


years  ago  it  was  quito  a  wilderness,  highly  picturesque  in  its 
streams,  its  forests,  and  its  prairies ;  in  places,  smooth  as  a  floor, 
and  again  swelling  into  gentle  undulations  like  the  ocean  at  the 
subsidence  of  a  storm.     The  painted  Indian  here  had  free  range ; 


371 


376  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

a  savage  more  ferocious  than  the  wild  beasts  he  pursued.  Though 
Daniel  Boone  had  explored  this  region,  and  had  returned  to  the 
other  side  of  the  Alleghanies  laden  with  peltry,  and  with  the 
report  that  it  was  an  earthly  paradise,  there  were  but  few  who 
were  ready  to  plunge  into  the  pathless  wilderness,  leaving  all 
vestiges  of  civilization  hundreds  of  miles  behind  them.  But 
Providence,  for  the  sake  of  peopling  this  country,  seems  to  have 
raised  up  a  peculiar  class  of  men,  who  loved  hardship  and  peril 
and  utter  loneliness.  The  Indians  were  always  clustered  in  vil- 
lages ;  but  these  men,  the  pioneers  of  civilization,  penetrated  the 
recesses  of  the  forest,  and  reared,  their  cabins  in  the  most  secluded 
valleys,  where  they  seldom  heard  the  voice  or  saw  the  face  of  their 
brother-man. 

About  the  year  1780,  when  the  war  of  the  Revolution  was  still 
raging,  one  of  these  men,  Abraham  Lincoln,  left  the  beautiful  Val- 
ley of  the  Shenandoah,  in  Virginia,  for  the  wilds  of  Kentucky. 
His  wife  and  one  or  two  children  accompanied  him.  There  were 
no  roads ;  there  were  no  paths  but  the  trail  of  the  Indian.  All 
their  worldly  goods  they  must  have  carried  in  packs  upon  their 
backs;  unless,  possibly,  they  might  have  been  enabled  to  take  with 
them  a  horse  or  a  mule.  What  motive  could  have  induced  a  civil- 
ized man  to  take  such  a  step,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  ;  and  still, 
from  the  earliest  settlement  of  our  country  until  the  present  day, 
there  have  been  thousands  thus  ever  crowding  into  the  wilder- 
ness. Only  two  years  after  this  emigration,  Abraham  Lincoln,  still 
a  young  man,  while  working  one  day  in  his  field,  was  stealthily 
approached  by  an  Indian,  and  shot  dead.  His  widow  was  left  in 
the  extreme  of  poverty  with  five  little  children.  How  she  strug- 
gled along  through  the  terrible  years  of  toil  and  destitution,  we 
are  not  informed.  It  was  one  of  those  unwritten  tragedies  of 
which  earth  is  full. 

There  were  three  boys  and  two  girls  in  the  family.  Thomas, 
the  youngest  of  these  boys,  was  four  years  of  age  at  the  time  of 
his  father's  death.  This  Thomas  was  the  father  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, the  President  of  the  United  States,  whose  name  must  hence- 
forth forever  be  enrolled  amongst  the  most  prominent  in  the 
annals  of  our  world.  Of  course,  no  record  has  been  kept  of  the 
life  of  one  so  lowly  as  Thomas  Lincoln.  He  was  among  the  poor- 
est of  the  poor.  His  home  was  a  wretched  log-cabin  :  his  food,  the 
coarsest  and  the  meanest.     Education  he  had  none  :  he  could  never 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  377 

either  read  or  write.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to  do  any  thing  for 
himself,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  the  cabin  of  his  starving  mother, 
and  push  out  into  the  world,  a  friendless,  wandering  boy,  seeking 
work.  He  hired  himself  out,  and  thus  spent  the  whole  of  his 
youtii  as  a  laborer  in  the  fields  of  others. 

When  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  he  built  a  log-cabin  of  his  own, 
and  married  Nancy  Hanks,  the  daughter  of  another  family  of  poor 
Kentucky  emigrants,  who  had  also  come  from  Virginia.  Their 
second  child  was  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
Thomas,  his  father,  was  a  generous,  warm-hearted,  good-natured 
man,  with  but  little  efficiency.  He  greatly  deplored  his  want  of 
education,  and  was  anxious  that  his  children  should  not  suffer  in 
this  respect  as  he  had  done.  The  mother  of  Abraham  was  a  noble 
woman,  gentle,  loving,  pensive,  created  to  adorn  a  palace,  doomed 
to  toil  and  pine  and  die  in  a  hovel.  "All  that  I  am,  or  hope  to 
be,"  exclaims  the  grateful  son,  "  I  owe  to  my  angel-mother :  bless- 
ings on  her  memory  !  " 

Both  the  father  and  mother  of  Abraham  Lincoln  were  earnest 
Christians.     Their  grateful  son  could  ever  say,  — 

"  'Tis  not  my  boast  that  I  deduce  my  birth 
Prom  loins  enthroned,  and  rulers  of  the  earth ; 
But  higher  far  my  proud  pretensions  rise,  — 
The  child  of  parents  passed  into  the  skies." 

Abraham's  mother  had  received  some  education,  and  would 
often  delight  her  children  by  reading  them  some  story  from  the 
very  few  books  she  could  command.  In  that  remote  region, 
schools  were  few,  and  very  humble  in  their  character.  Abraham, 
when  in  his  seventh  year,  was  sent  to  one  teacher  for  about  two 
months,  and  to  another  for  about  three.  His  zeal  was  so  great, 
that,  in  that  time,  he  learned  both  to  read  and  write.  His  parents 
were  members  of  the  Baptist  Church ;  and  occasionally  an  itin- 
erant preacher  came  along,  and  gathered  the  scattered  families 
under  a  grove  or  in  a  cabin  for  religious  service.  Good  old  Par- 
son Elkin  gave  Abraham  his  first  ideas  of  publi«  speaking. 

When  he  was  eight  years  of  age,  his  father  sold  his  cabin  and 
small  farm,  and  moved  to  Indiana.  Three  horses  took  the  family 
and  all  their  household  goods  a  seven-days'  journey  to  their  new 
home.  Here  kind  neighbors  helped  them  in  putting  up  another 
log-cabin.     In  a  home  more  cheerless  and  comfortless  than  the 

48 


378  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

readers  of  the  present  day  can  easily  comprehend,  Mrs.  Lincoln, 
with  the  delicate  organization,  both  of  body  and  mind,  of  a  laJy, 
sank  and  died  beneath  the  burdens  which  crushed  her.  Abraham 
was  then  ten  years  of  age.  Bitterly  he  wept  as  his  mother  was 
laid  in  her  humble  grave  beneath  the  trees  near  the  cabin.  The 
high  esteem  in  which  this  noble  woman  was  held  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  Parson  Elkin  rode  a  hundred  miles  on  horse- 
back, through  the  wilderness,  to  preach  her  funeral-sermon ;  and 
the  neighbors,  to  the  number  of  two  hundred,  who  were  scattered 
in  that  sparsely-settled  region  over  a  distance  of  twentj  miles, 
assembled  to  attend  the  service. 

It  was  a  scene  for  a  painter,  —  the  log-cabin,  alone  in  its  soli- 
tude; the  wide-spread  prairie,  beautiful  in  the  light  of  the  sabbath- 
morning  sun ;  the  grove ;  the  grave ;  the  group  seated  around  upon 
logs  and  stumps ;  the  venerable  preacher;  the  mourning  family; 
and  Abraham,  with  his  marked  figure  and  countenance,  his  eyes 
swimming  with  tears,  gazing  upon  the  scene  which  was  thus  hon- 
oring the  memory  of  his  revered  mother. 

Abraham  had  written  the  letter  inviting  the  pastor  to  preach 
the  funeral-sermon.  He  soon  became  the  scribe  of  the  unedu- 
cated community  around  him.  He  could  not  have  had  a  better 
school  than  this  to  teach  him  to  put  thoughts  into  words.  He  also 
became  an  eager  reader.  The  books  he  could  obtain  were  few: 
but  these  he  read  and  re-read  until  they  were  almost  committed 
to  memory.  The  Bible,  JEsop's  ^*  Fables,"  and  the  "  Pilgrim's  Prog- 
ress," were  his  favorites.  The  Lives  of  Washington,  Franklin, 
and  Clay,  produced  a  deep  impression  upon  his  sensitive  mind. 
All  the  events  of  their  varied  careers  were  so  stored  up  in  his 
memory,  that  he  could  recall  them  at  any  time. 

An  anecdote  is  related  illustrative  of  that  conscientiousness  of 
character  which  w^as  early  developed,  and  which  subsequently 
gave  him  the  name,  throughout  the  whole  breadth  of  the  land,  of 
"  Honest  Abe."  He  had  borrowed  Ramsay's  "  Life  of  Washing- 
ton." By  accident,  the  book  was  seriously  injured  by  a  shower. 
In  consternation  at  the  calamity,  he  took  it  back  to  the  owner,  and 
purchased  the  soiled  copy  by  working  for  it  for  three  days. 

His  father  soon  married  again  a  very  worthy  woman,  who  had 
also  several  children.  Abraham  remained  at  home,  toiling  upon 
the  farm,  and  occasionally  working  as  a  day-laborer.  He  had  re- 
markable muscular  strength  and  agility,  was  exceedingly  genial 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:  379 

i*nd  obliging,  and  secured  to  an  eminent  degree  the  affection  and 
respect  of  the  lowly  community  with  which  he  was  associated. 
He  was  ever  ready  to  make  any  sacrifice  of  his  own  comfort  to 
assist  others.  Having  some  considerable  mechanical  skill,  he  built 
a  boat  to  carry  the  produce  of  the  farm  down  the  Ohio  River  to  a 
market.  One  morning,  as  he  was  standing  by  his  boat  at  the 
landing,  two  men  came  down  to  the  shore,  and  wished  to  be  taken 
out  to  a  steamer  in  the  river.  He  sculled  them  out  with  their  lug- 
gage. Each  of  them  tossed  a  silver  half-dollar  to  him.  In  telling 
this  story  in  the  day  when  his  income  was  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  and  he  had  obtained  almost  world-wide  renown,  he 
said,  — 

"  I  could  scarcely  believe  my  eyes.  It  was  a  most  important 
incident  in  my  life.  I  could  scarcely  believe  that  I,  a  poor  boy, 
had  earned  a  dollar  in  less  than  a  day.  The  world  seemed  wider 
and  fairer  before  me.  I  was  more  hopeful  and  confident  from  that 
time." 

When  nineteen  years  of  age,  a  neighbor  applied  to  him  to  take 
charge  of  a  flat-boat  to  float  a  cargo  of  produce  down  the  Ohio 
and  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans,  —  a  distance  of  more  than  a 
thousand  miles.  A  more  exciting  trip  for  an  adventurous  young 
man  can  scarcely  be  imagined.  Housed  safely  in  his  capacious 
boat,  with  food  and  shelter ;  floating  down  the  tranquil  current  of 
the  beautiful  Ohio,  and  swept  resistlessly  along  by  the  majestic 
flood  of  the  Father  of  Waters  ;  passing  headlands  and  forests,  huts 
and  villages,  the  tortuous  river  bearing  the  boat  in  all  directions, — 
north,  south,  east,  west ;  the  stream  now  compressed  within  narrow 
banks,  and  now  exp  Hiding  to  a  lake,  and  almost  to  an  ocean;  to 
be  borne  along  by  an  insensible  motion  through  such  scenes,  in 
the  bright  morning  sunshine  or  in  the  serene  moonlight,  must 
have  enkindled  emotions  in  the  bosom  of  young  Lincoln  never  to 
be  forgotten.  With  a  rifle,  and  a  small  boat  attached  to  their  float- 
ing ark,  they  could  supply  themselves  with  game.  Whenever  they 
wished,  they  could  tie  their  boat  to  the  shore,  and  visit  the  cabins 
of  the  remote  settlers  for  supplies. 

One  night,  when  tied  to  the  shore,  they  were  attacked  by  seven 
robbers  eager  for  plunder.  Quite  a  little  battle  ensued,  when  the 
robbers  were  put  to  precipitate  flight.  Having  arrived  at  New 
Orleans,  the  cargo  was  sold,  and  the  boat  disposed  of  for  lumber. 
Young   Lincoln,  with    his    companions,   retraced    their  passage 


380  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

back  to  Indiana  in  a  long  and  weary  journey,  most  of  the  way  pu 
foot. 

As  the  years  rolled  on,  the  lot  of  this  lowly  family  was  the  usual 
lot  of  humanity.  There  were  joys  and  griefs,  Aveddings  and  fune- 
rals. Abraham's  sister  Sarah,  to  whom  he  was  tenderly  attached, 
was  married  when  a  child  of  but  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  soon 
died.  The  family  was  gradually  scattered.  Mr.  Thomas  Lincoln, 
naturally  restless,  finding  his  location  tinhealthy  in  the  almost 
unbroken  wilderness  of  Spencer  County,  la.,  and  lured  by  the 
accounts  which  he  had  heard  of  the  marvellous  fertility  of  Illinois, 
sold  out  his  squatter's  claim  in  1830,  and  emigrated  two  hundred 
miles  farther  north-west,  —  to  Macon  County,  111.  It  was  a  weary 
spring  journey  over  swollen  streams  and  through  roads  of  mire. 
The  teams,  containing  the  personal  effects  of  the  emigrants,  were 
dragged  by  oxen;  and  fifteen  days  were  occupied  in  reaching  their 
new  home  upon  the  banks  of  the  Sangamon. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  then  twenty-one  years  of  age.  With 
vigorous  hands,  he  aided  his  father  in  rearing  another  log-cabin. 
It  was  made  of  hewn  timber.  The  only  tools  they  had  to  work 
with  were  an  axe,  a  saw,  and  a  drawer-knife.  A  smoke-house  and 
barn  were  also  built,  and  ten  acres  of  land  were  fenced  in  by  split 
rails.  Abraham  worked  diligently  at  this  until  he  saw  the  family 
comfortably  settled,  and  their  small  lot  of  enclosed  praii-ie  planted 
with  corn ;  when  he  announced  to  his  father  his  intention  to  leave 
home,  and  to  go  out  into  the  world  to  seek  his  fortune.  Little  did 
he  or  his  friends  imagine  how  brilliant  that  fortune  was  to  be. 
But  the  elements  of  greatness  were  then  being  developed.  He 
saw  the  value  of  education,  and  was  intensely  earnest  to  improve 
his  mind  to  the  utmost  of  his  power.  He  saw  the  ruin  which 
ardent  spirits  were  causing,  and  became  strictly  temperate ;  re- 
fusing to  allow  a  drop  of  intoxicating  liquor  to  pass  his  lips.  And 
he  had  read  in  God's  word,  "  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the 
Lord  thy  God  in  vain ; "  and  a  profane  expression  he  was  never 
heard  to  utter.  Religion  he  revered.  His  morals  were  pure,  and 
he  was  uncontaminated  by  a  single  vice. 

It  is  difficult  to  explain  the  reason  for  the  fact,  that  one  young 
man,  surrounded  by  every  influence  which  should  elevate,  sinks 
into  ruin ;  and  that  another,  exposed  to  all  the  temptations  which 
would  naturally  tend  to  degrade,  soars  to  dignity  and  elevation 
which  render  him  an  honor  to  his  race.    Youns;  Abraham  worked 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  381 

for  a  time  as  a  hired  laborer  among  the  farmers.  Then  he  went  to 
Springfield,  where  he  was  employed  in  building  a  large  flat-boat. 
In  this  he  took  a  herd  of  swine,  floated  them  down  the  Sangamon 
to  the  Illinois,  and  thence  by  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans. 
Whatever  Abraham  Lincoln  undertook,  he  performed  so  faithfully 
as  to  give  great  satisfaction  to  his  employers.  In  this  adventure 
his  employers  were  so  well  pleased,  that,  upon  his  return,  they 
placed  a  store  and  a  mill  under  his  care.  A  blessing  seemed 
to  follow  him.  Customers  were  multiplied.  His  straightforward, 
determined  honesty  secured  confldence.  In  settling  a  bill  with  a 
woman,  he  took  six  and  quarter  cents  too  much.  He  found  it  out 
in  his  night's  reckoning,  and  immediately,  in  the  dark,  walked  to 
her  house,  two  miles  and  a  half  distant,  to  pay  it  back  to  her. 
Just  as  he  was  closing  the  store  one  night,  in  the  dusk,  he  weighed 
out  half  a  pound  of  tea  for  a  woman.  In  the  morning,  he  found, 
that,  by  an  accidental  defect  in  the  scales,  the  woman  had  received 
scant  weight  by  four  ounces.  He  weighed  out  the  four  ounces, 
shut  up  the  store,  and  carried  them  to  her  ;  a  long  walk  before 
breakfast. 

A  bully  came  into  the  store  one  day,  rioting,  blustering,  insult- 
ing beyond  endurance,  trying  to  provoke  a  fight.  "  Well,  if  you 
must  be  whipped,"  said  Abraham  at  last,  "  I  suppose  I  may  as 
well  whip  you  as  any  other  man."  He  seized  him  with  his  long, 
powerful  arms,  threw  him  upon  the  ground  as  though  he  had  been 
a  child,  and,  gathering  in  his  hand  some  "smart  weed"  which 
chanced  to  be  near,  rubbed  it  in  his  face,  until  the  fellow  bel- 
lowed with  pain,  and  cried  for  mercy.  Abraham,  with  "  malice  to- 
wards none,"  helped  him  up,  got  some  cool  water  to  bathe  his 
burning  face,  and  made  him  ever  after  one  of  his  best  friends. 

He  borrowed  an  English  grammar,  studied  it  thoroughly,  and 
completel}^  mastered  it.  He  sought  the  society  of  the  most  intel- 
ligent men  in  that  region,  joined  a  debating-club,  and  took  "  The 
Louisville  Journal,"  which  he  not  only  read,  but  carefull}'^  pon- 
dered all  its  leading  articles.  Every  leisure  moment  was  devoted 
to  study  and  thought. 

In  1832,  the  celebrated  Indian  chief  Black  Hawk  crossed  the 
Mississippi,  and,  with  a  large  band  of  savages,  was  ascending  Rock 
River.  Volunteers  were  called  for  to  resist  him.  Lincoln,  with 
enough  others  in  his  immediate  neighborhood  to  make  a  company, 
enlisted.     Who  should  be  their  captain  ?    There  were  two  candi- 


382  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

dates,  —  Mr.  Lincoln  and  a  Mr.  Kirkpatrick,  a  man  of  extensive 
influence,  and  who  had  been  a  former  employer  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
but  who  was  so  arrogant  and  overbearing,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  could 
not  live  with  him.  The  mode  of  election  was  very  simple.  The 
t%\''o  candidates  were  placed  apart,  and  each  man  was  told  to  go  to 
the  one  whom  he  preferred.  Nearly  the  whole  band  was  soon 
found  clustered  around  Lincoln.  This  was  with  Mr.  Lincoln  the 
proudest  hour  of  his  life.  The  little  army  of  twenty-four  hun- 
dred ascended  Rock  River  in  pursuit  of  Black  Hawk.  The  sav- 
ages were  attacked,  routed,  and  Black  Hawk  was  taken  prisoner. 
Zachary  Taylor  was  colonel,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  captain,  in  this 
campaign.  Nothing  seemed  then  more  improbable  than  that 
either  of  those  men  should  ever  become  President  of  the  L^nited 
States. 

Upon  his  return  to  Sangamon  County,  he  was  proposed  as  a 
candidate  for  the  State  Legislature.  He  was  then  twenty-three 
years  of  age,  and  was  the  political  admirer  of  Henry  Clay,  and  not 
of  Gen.  Jackson.  The  great  majority  of  the  county  were  Jack- 
sonian  Democrats :  but  Mr.  Lincoln's  personal  popularity  was 
such,  that  he  received  almost  every  vote  in  his  own  precinct ; 
though,  in  the  general  vote,  he  was  defeated.  He  again  tried  his 
hand  at  store-keeping,  and,  with  a  partner,  purchased  a  lot  of 
goods.  But  his  partner  proved  fickle  and  dissipated,  and  the 
adventure  was  a  failure.  He  now  received  from  Andrew  Jackson 
the  appointment  of  postmaster  for  New  Salem.  The  duties  were 
light,  and  the  recompense  small,  in  that  wilderness.  His  only  post- 
office  was  his  hat.  All  the  letters  he  received  he  carried  there, 
ready  to  deliver  as  he  chanced  to  meet  those  to  whom  they  were 
addressed. 

That  new  country  was  constantly  demanding  the  services  of  a 
surveyor.  Mr.  Lincoln  studied  the  science,  and,  entering  upon 
the  practice  of  this  new  profession,  followed  it  vigorously  and 
successfully  for  more  than  a  year.  He  was  still  rapidly  acquiring 
information,  and  advancing  in  mental  culture.  Shakspeare  he 
read  and  re-read.  Burns  he  could  almost  repeat  by  heart.  Oc- 
casionally he  ventured  to  make  a  political  speech. 

In  1834,  he  again  became  a  candidate  for  the  State  Legislature, 
and  was  triumphantly  elected.  Mr.  Stuart  of  Springfield,  an  emi- 
nent lawyer,  advised  him  to  study  law  ;  offering  to  lend  him  such 
assistance  in  money  as  he  needed.     He  walked  from  New  Salem 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  080 

to  Springfield,  borrowed  of  Mr.  Stuart  a  load  of  books,  carried 
them  upon  his  back  to  New  Salem,  and  commenced  his  legal 
studies.  With  earnestness  which  absorbed  every  energy  of  his 
soul,  he  entered  upon  his  student-life.  He  had  no  pleasant  office, 
no  choice  library,  none  of  the  appliances  of  literary  luxury,  to 
entice  him.  Much  of  his  time,  his  study  was  the  shade  of  an  oak- 
tree.  When  the  legislature  assembled,  he  trudged  on  foot,  with 
his  pack  on  his  back,  one  hundred  miles  to  Vandalia,  then  the 
capital  of  the  State.  He  was  a  silent  but  studious  member, 
gaining  strength  and  wisdom  every  day.  At  the  close  of  the  ses- 
sion, he  walked  home,  and  resumed  the  study  of  the  law,  support- 
ing himself  by  surveying.  These  years  of  thought  and  study 
had  accomplished  their  work,  and  suddenly  he  flashed  forth  an 
orator.  It  was  at  a  public  meeting  in  Springfield  that  he  elec- 
trified the  audience,  and  was  at  once  recognized  as  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  men  in  the  State. 

In  1836,  he  was  re-elected  to  the  State  Legislature.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  now  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  and  a  prominent  man  in 
the  State  of  Illinois.  It  was  during  this  session  of  the  legisla- 
ture that  Mr.  Lincoln  first  met  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  who  was  then 
but  twenty-three  years  old.  The  slavery"  question  was  beginning 
to  agitate  the  country.  Both  parties  were  bowing  submissive  to 
that  great  power.  Some  extreme  proslavery  resolutions  passed 
the  legislature.  There  were  but  two  men  who  ventured  to  re- 
monstrate. Abraham  Lincoln  was  one.  "  Slavery,"  Mr.  Lincoln 
said  in  his  protest,  which  was  entered  upon  the  journal  of  the 
house,  "  is  founded  on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy."  He  was 
still  poor.  He  walked  to  Vandalia.  He  walked  home  ;  his  only 
baggage,  a  bundle  in  his  hand. 

Major  Stuart,  of  Springfield,  now  proposed  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
should  become  his  partner  in  the  law ;  and  accordingly,  in  April, 
1839,  he  removed  to  Springfield,  and  commenced  the  practice  of 
his  new  profession.  In  the  mean  time,  the  capital  was  removed  to 
Springfield ;  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  by  successive  elections,  was  contin- 
ued in  the  legislature,  and  was  soon  recognized  as  its  leading 
member  on  the  Whig  side.  In  the  practice  of  the  law,  his  suc- 
cess with  the  jury  was  so  great,  that  he  was  engaged  in  almost 
every  important  case  in  the  circuit, 

Mr.  Lincoln  at  once  took  a  very  high  position  at  the  bar.  He 
would  never  advocate  a  cause  which  he  did  not  believe  to  be  a 


884  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

just  one,  and  no  amount  of  odium  or  unpopularity  could  dissuade 
him  from  espousing  a  cause  where  he  thought  the  right  was  with 
his  client.  Few  lawj^ers  were  at  that  time  willing  to  undertake 
the  defence  of  any  one  who  had  helped  a  fugitive  slave  on  his  way 
to  Canada.  A  man  who  was  accused  of  that  crime  applied  to  one 
of  the  first  lawyers  in  Springfield  as  his  advocate.  The  lawyer 
declined,  saying  that  he  should  imperil  all  his  political  prospects 
by  undertaking  the  case.  He  then  applied  to  an  earnest  anti- 
slavery  man  for  advice.  "  Go,"  said  he,  "  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  is 
not  afraid  of  an  unpopular  cause.  When  I  go  for  a  lawyer  to  de- 
fend an  arrested  fugitive  slave,  other  lawyers  will  refuse  me ;  but, 
if  Mr.  Lincoln  is  at  home,  he  will  always  take  my  case." 

Judge  Caton  said  of  him,  *'  His  mode  of  speaking  was  generally 
of  a  plain  and  unimpassioned  character  ;  and  yet  he  was  the  au- 
thor of  some  of  the  most  beautiful  and  eloquent  passages  in  our 
language,  which,  if  collected,  would  form  a  valuable  contribution 
to  American  literature." 

Judge  Breeze,  speaking  of  him  after  his  death,  said,  "  For  my 
single  self,  I  have,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  regarded  Mr.  Lin- 
coln as  the  finest  lawyer  I  ever  knew,  and  of  a  professional  bear- 
ing so  high-toned  tmd  honorable,  as  justly,  and  without  derogating 
from  the  claims  of  others,  entitling  him  to  be  presented  to  the 
profession  as  a  model  well  worthy  the  closest  imitation." 

Judge  Drummond's  testimony  is  equally  full  and  emphatic.  He 
says,  "  With  a  voice  by  no  means  pleasant,  and  indeed,  when  ex- 
cited, in  its  shrill  tones  sometimes  almost  disagreeable  ;  without 
any  of  the  personal  graces  of  the  orator ;  without  much  in  the  out- 
ward man  indicating  superiority  of  intellect ;  without  quickness 
of  perception,  —  still  his  mind  was  so  vigorous,  his  comprehen- 
sion so  exact  and  clear,  and  his  judgment  so  sure,  that  he  easily 
mastered  the  intricacies  of  his  profession,  and  became  one  of  the 
ablest  reasoners  and  most  impressive  speakers  at  our  bar.  With 
a  probity  of  character  known  to  all,  with  an  intuitive  insight  into 
the  human  heart,  with  a  clearness  of  statement  which  was  itself 
an  argument,  with  uncommon  power  and  felicity  of  illustration,  — 
often,  it  is  true,  of  a  plain  and  homely  kind,  —  and  with  that  sin- 
cerity and  earnestness  of  manner  which  carried  conviction,  he 
was,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  successful  jury-lawyers  we  have 
ever  had  in  the  State.  He  always  tried  a  case  fairly  and  honestly. 
He  never  intentionally  misrepresented  the  evidence  of  a  witness 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  385 

or  the  argument  of  an  opponent.  He  met  both  squarely,  and  if 
he  could  not  explain  the  one,  or  answer  the  other,  substantially 
admitted  it.  He  never  misstated  the  law  according  to  his  own  in- 
telligent view  of  it." 

At  one  time,  Mr.  Lincoln  came  very  near  being  drawn  into  a 
duel  very  foolishly,  but  at  the  same  time  with  a  certain  kind  of 
characteristic  magnanimity.  A  lady  wrote  a  satirical  poem  in  al- 
lusion to  a  young  lawyer  in  Springfield,  which  some  mischievous 
person  took  from  her  desk,  and  published  in  "  The  Journal."  The 
lawyer,  exasperated,  called  upon  the  editor,  and  demanded  the 
name  of  the  author.  The  editor  was  perplexed.  It  would  seem  ig- 
noble to  escape  the  responsibility  by  throwing  it  upon  a  lady.  He 
consulted  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  was  a  personal  friend  of  the  lady.  "  In- 
form him,"  was  the  prompt  reply,  "  that  I  assume  the  responsibil- 
ity." A  challenge  was  given  and  accepted.  Mr.  Lincoln  chose 
broad-swords,  intending  to  act  simply  on  the  defensive.  Friends 
interposed ;  and  the  silly  rencounter,  which,  had  it  resulted  in  the 
death  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  would  have  proved  a  great  national  calam- 
ity, was  prevented. 

In  allusion  to  this  event,  Mr.  Carpenter  says,  "  Mr.  Lincoln  him- 
self regarded  the  circumstance  with  much  regret  and  mortifica- 
tion, and  hoped  it  might  be  forgotten.  In  February  preceding 
his  death,  a  distinguished  officer  of  the  army  called  at  the  White 
House,  and  was  entertained  by  the  President  and  Mrs.  Lincoln 
for  an  hour  in  the  parlor.  During  the  conversation,  the  gentle- 
man said,  turning  to  Mrs.  Lincoln,  '  Is  it  true,  Mr.  President,  as  I 
have  heard,  that  you  once  went  out  to  fight  a  duel  for  the  sake 
of  the  lady  by  your  side  ? '  —  'I  do  not  deny  it,'  replied  Mr.  Lin- 
coln ;  '  but,  if  you  desire  my  friendship,  you  will  never  mention  the 
circumstance  again.'  " 

In  1842,  Mr.  Lincoln  married  Miss  Mary  Todd,  daughter  of 
Hon.  Robert  S.  Todd,  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  who  had  resided  sev- 
eral 3^ears  in  Springfield.  During  the  great  political  contest  of 
1844,  Mr.  Lincoln  earnestly  espoused  the  cause  of  his  political 
idol,  Henr}^  Clay.  In  the  canvass,  he  acquired  much  celebrit}' 
as  an  efficient  speaker.  His  chagrin  was  intense  that  an  intel- 
ligent people  could  prefer  Mr.  Polk  to  Mr.  Clay.  For  a  time,  he 
mistrusted  the  capacity  of  the  people  for  self-government,  and 
resolved  to  have  no  more  to  do  with  politics. 

In  1846,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  nominated  from  the  Sangamon  District 

49 


386  LIVES  OF  TEE  PRESIDENTS. 

for  Congress.  He  was  elected  by  a  very  great  majority,  and  in 
December,  1847,  took  his  seat  in  the  thirtieth  Congress.  During 
the  same  session,  Stephen  A.  Douglas  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate. 
Mr.  Douglas  was  one  of  the  champions  of  the  Democratic  party 
in  the  Senate.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  the  warm  advocate  of  Whig  prin- 
ciples in  the  House.  He  was  opposed  to  the  Mexican  War,  as 
"  unnecessarily  and  unconstitutionally  begun  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States."  A  speech  which  he  made  on  this  subject 
was  one  of  a  very  high  order  of  ability.  His  clearness,  direct- 
ness, vigor  of  style,  and  oratorical  impressiveness,  are  all  remark- 
able. Speaking  of  President  Polk's  apologies  for  the  war,  he 
says,  — 

"I  more  than  suspect  that  he  is  deeply  conscious  of  being  in  the 
wrong ;  that  he  feels  that  the  blood  of  this  war,  like  the  blood  of 
Abel,  is  crying  to  Heaven  against  him ;  that  he  ordered  Gen.  Tay- 
lor into  the  midst  of  a  peaceful  Mexican  settlement,  purposely  to 
bring  on  a  war  ;  that  originally  having  some  strong  motive,  which 
I  will  not  stop  now  to  give  my  opinion  concerning,  to  involve  the 
two  nations  in  a  war,  and  trusting  to  escape  scrutiny  by  the  ex- 
treme brightness  of  military  glory,  —  that  attractive  rainbow 
that  rises  in  showers  of  blood,  that  serpent's  eye  that  charms  to 
destroy,  —  he  plunged  into  it,  and  swept  on  and  on,  till,  disap- 
pointed in  his  calculations  of  the  ease  with  which  Mexico  might 
be  subdued,  he  now  finds  himself  he  knows  not  where." 

War  and  victories  were  then  something  new  to  the  American 
people.  Gen.  Taylor  was  nominated  in  1848  as  the  Whig  candi- 
date for  the  presidency.  Gen.  Cass  was  the  Democratic  candidate. 
Gen.  Taylor  had  said,  in  accepting  the  nomination,  — 

"  Upon  the  subject  of  the  tariff,  the  currency,  the  improvement 
of  our  great  highways,  rivers,  lakes,  and  harbors,  the  will  of  the 
people,  as  expressed  through  their  representatives  in  Congress, 
ought  to  be  respected  and  carried  out  by  the  Executive." 

Mr.  Lincoln,  pithily  and  approvingly  commenting  upon  this, 
said,  "The  people  say  to  Gen.  Taylor,  'If  you  are  elected,  shall 
we  have  a  national  bank  ? '  He  answers,  '  Your  will,  gentlemen, 
not  mine.''  —  'What  about  the  tariff?'  — '  Say  yourselves.' — '  Shall 
our  rivers  and  harbors  be  improved?'  —  Must  as  you  please.  If 
you  desire  a  bank,  an  alteration  in  the  tariff,  internal  improvements, 
any  or  all,  I  will  not  hinder  you  ;  if  you  do  not  desire  them,  I  will 
not  attempt  to  force  them  on  you.    Send  up  your  members  to  Con- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  387 

gress  from  the  various  districts,  with  opinions  according  to  your 
own ;  and  if  they  are  for  these  measures,  or  any  of  them,  I  shall 
have  nothing  to  oppose  ;  if  they  are  not  for  them,  I  shall  not,  by 
any  appliances  whatever,  attempt  to  dragoon  them  into  their  ac- 
complishment.' 

"  In  a  certain  sense,"  Mr.  Lincoln  continued,  "  and  to  a  certain 
extent,  the  President  is  a  representative  of  the  people.  He  is 
elected  by  them  as  Congress  is.  But  can  he,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  know  the  wants  of  the  people  as  well  as  three  hundred 
other  men  coming  from  all  the  various  localities  of  the  nation? 
If  so,  where  is  the  propriety  of  having  Congress?" 

This  was  the  platform  upon  which  Mr.  Lincoln  ever  stood.  It 
was  understood  that  Gen.  Taylor  was  opposed  to  the  Mexican 
War.  He  certainly  advocated  an  offensive  instead  of  a  defensive 
attitude.  Mr.  Lincoln  cordially  supported  him  in  preference  to 
Gen.  Cass,  the  Democratic  candidate.  He  advocated  the  Wilmot 
Proviso,  which  excluded  slavery  from  the  Territories.  He  pre- 
pared a  bill  which  declared  that  no  person  hereafter  born  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  should  be  held  a  slave,  and  which  also  en- 
couraged emancipation.  At  the  same  time,  there  is  evidence,  that, 
while  his  sympathies  were  strongly  against  slavery,  he  still  then 
thought  that  slaves  were  recognized  as  property  under  the  Con- 
stitution. Still  he  aftci-icards  denied,  in  a  controversy  with  Doug- 
las, that  the  '^  right  of  property  in  a  slave  is  distinctly  and  ex- 
pressl}'  affirmed  in  the  Constitution."  At  the  close  of  his  two 
years'  term  of  service  in  Washington,  he  returned  to  Springfield, 
and  assiduously  devoted  himself  to  the  duties  of  his  profession. 
He  Avas  always  ready  to  advocate  the  cause  of  the  poor  and  the 
oppressed,  however  small  the  remuneration,  or  great  the  obloquy 
incurred.     The  fugitive  slave  never  appealed  to  him  in  vain. 

In  1854,  the  proslavery  party  secured  the  abrogation  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  and  thus  threw  open  the  whole  of  the 
North-west  to  the  invasion  of  slavery.  This  outrage  roused  the  in- 
dignation of  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  had  long  and  anxiously  watched 
the  encroachments  of  slavery ;  and  he  now  became  convinced  that 
there  could  be  no  cessation  of  the  conflict  until  either  slavery  or 
freedom  should  gain  the  entire  victory.  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
with  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  had  long  been  more  or  less  intimately  as- 
sociated, was  responsible  for  the  bill  repealing  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise. It  was  regarded  as  his  hid  for  Southern  votes  to  secure 
the  presidency. 


388  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Mr.  Douglas  was  a  man  of  great  intellectual  power,  and  of  con- 
summate tact  and  skill  in  debate.  In  October,  1854,  he  attended 
a  State  fair  in  Springfield,  111.,  and  addressed  a  vast  assemblage 
in  defence  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  as  it  was  called.  The 
next  day,  Mr.  Lincoln  replied  to  him,  in  a  speech  three  hours  in 
length.     "  The  Springfield  Republican,"  in  its  report,  says,  — 

"  He  quivered  with  emotion.  The  whole  house  was  still  as 
death.  He  attacked  the  bill  with  unusual  warmth  and  energy ; 
and  all  felt  that  a  man  of  strength  was  its  enemy,  and  that  he 
intended  to  blast  it,  if  he  could,  by  strong  and  manly  efforts.  He 
was  most  successful ;  and  the  house  approved  the  glorious  triumph 
of  truth  by  long  and  loud  continued  huzzas.  Women  waved  their 
handkerchiefs  in  token  of  woman's  silent  but  heartfelt  consent." 

The  fundamental  principle  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill'  was, 
that  the  ivhite  people  in  the  Territories  had  a  right  to  decide 
whether  or  not  they  would  enslave  the  colored  people.  Thus  pithi- 
ly Mr.  Lincoln  replied  to  it :  — 

"  My  distinguished  friend  says  it  is  an  insult  to  the  emigrants 
to  Kansas  and  Nebraska  to  suppose  that  they  are  not  able  to 
govern  themselves.  We  must  not  slur  over  an  argument  of  this 
kind  because  it  happens  to  tickle  the  ear.  It  must  be  met  and 
answered.  I  admit  that  the  emigrant  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska  is 
competent  to  govern  himself;  but  I  deny  his  right  to  govern  any 
other  person  without  that  persoii's  consent.^' 

It  was  the  almost  universal  testimony,  that,  in  this  meeting  at 
Springfield,  Mr.  Douglas  was  vanquished.  Mr.  Douglas  went  to 
Peoria.  Mr.  Lincoln  followed  him.  The  public  excitement  drew 
an  immense  crowd.  Again  these  able  and  illustrious  men  met  in 
the  sternest  conflict  of  argument.  Mr.  Lincoln's  speech  upon 
this  occasion  was  fully  reported.  It  was  read  with  admiration  all 
over  the  Union,  and  was  generally  considered  an  unanswerable 
refutation  of  the  positions  assumed  by  Mr.  Douglas.  One  portion 
we  will  quote,  since  it  has  a  direct  bearing  upon  one  of  the  ques- 
tions now  deeply  exciting  the  public  mind. 

Mr.  Douglas  had  assumed  that  it  was  a  question  of  no  impor- 
tance whatever  to  the  people  of  Illinois  whether  men  were  en- 
slaved or  not  in  the  Territories.  "  I  care  not,"  he  said,  "  whether 
slavery  is  voted  up,  or  voted  down,  in  Kansas." 

Mr.  Lincoln  replied,  "  By  the  Constitution,  each  State  has  two 
senators  ;  each  has  a  number  of  representatives  in  proportion  to 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLX.  389 

the  number  of  its  people  ;  andreach  has  a  number  o^  presidential 
electors  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  its  senators  and  represen- 
tatives together. 

"  But,  in  ascertaining  the  number  of  the  people  for  the  purpose, 
five  slaves  are  counted  as  being  equal  to  three  whites.  The 
slaves  do  not  vote.  They  are  only  counted,  and  so  used  as  to 
swell  the  influence  of  the  white  people's  vote.  The  practical  ef- 
fect of  this  is  more  aptly  shown  by  a  comparison  of  the  States 
of  South  Carolina  and  Maine.  South  Carolina  has  six  representa- 
tives, and  so  has  Maine.  South  Carolina  has  eight  presidential 
electors,  and  so  has  Maine.  This  is  precise  equality  so  far ;  and 
of  course  they  are  equal  in  senators,  each  having  two. 

"  But  how  are  they  in  the  number  of  their  white  people  ? 
Maine  has  581,613.  South  Carolina  has  274,567.  Maine  has  twice 
as  many  as  South  Carolina,  and  32,679  over.  Thus  each  white 
man  in  South  Carolina  is  more  than  double  any  man  in  Maine. 
This  is  all  because  South  Carolina,  besides  her  free  people,  has 
387,984  slaves." 

It  is  now  proposed  that  all  these  colored  people,  to  whom  South 
Carolina  refuses  the  rights  of  freemen,  should  be  counted  in  the 
representation,  thus  not  only  continuing  but  augmenting  this  in- 
equality. If  they  are  admitted  to  the  rights  of  citizenship,  then 
their  votes  will  be  thrown  for  such  measures  as  they  approve ; 
but  if  they  are  denied  the  rights  of  citizens,  and  are  yet  counted 
in  the  representation,  it  more  than  doubles  the  political  power  of 
their  former  masters,  and  leaves  the  freedmen  utterly  helpless  in 
their  hands.  In  a  letter  which  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote,  Aug.  24,  1855, 
he  says,  — 

"  You  inquire  where  I  now  stand.  That  is  a  disputed  point. 
I  think  I  am  a  Whig ;  but  others  say  that  there  are  no  Whigs, 
and  that  I  am  an  abolitionist.  When  I  was  in  Washington,  I 
voted  for  the  Wilmot  Proviso  as  good  as  forty  times,  and  I  never 
heard  of  any  attempt  to  unwhig  me  for  that.  I  do  no  more  than 
oppose  the  extension  of  slavery.  Our  progress  in  degeneracy  ap- 
pears to  me  to  be  pretty  rapid.  As  a  nation,  we  began  by  declar- 
ing that  '  all  men  are  created  equal.'  We  now  practically  read  it, 
'  All  men  are  created  equal,  except  negroes.'  I  am  not  a  KnoAv- 
Nothing;  that's  certain.  How  could  I  be?  How  can  any  one,  who 
abhors  the  oppression  of  the  negroes,  be  in  favor  of  degrading 
classes  of  white  people  ?    When  the  Know-Nothings  get  control,  it 


390  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

will  read,  'All  men  are  created  equal,  except  negroes  and  for- 
eigners and  Catholics.'  When  it  comes  to  that,  I  should  prefer 
emigrating  to  some  country  where  they  make  no  pretence  of  lov- 
ing liberty,  —  to  Russia,  for  instance,  where  despotism  can  be 
taken  pure,  without  the  base  alloy  of  hypocrisy." 

The  new  Republican  party,  embracing  all  of  every  name  who 
were  opposed  to  slavery  extension,  was  now  rising  rapidly  into 
power,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  cordially  connected  himself  with  it.  He 
assisted  in  organizing  the  party  in  Illinois,  and  on  the  occasion 
made  a  speech,  of  which  it  was  said,  "  Never  was  an  audience 
more  completely  electrified  by  human  eloquence.  Again  and 
again,  during  the  progress  of  its  deliver}'-,  they  sprang  to  their 
feet  and  upon  the  benches,  and  testified,  by  long-continued 
shouts  and  the  waving  of  their  hats,  how  deeply  the  speaker  had 
wrought  upon  their  minds  and  hearts." 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  now  the  most  prominent  man  in  the  Re- 
publican party  in  all  the  West.  His  name  was  presented  to  the 
National  Convention  for  the  vice-presidency,  to  be  placed  upon 
the  ticket  with  John  C.  Fremont ;  but  Mr.  Dayton  was  the  suc- 
cessful competitor.  During  this  campaign,  he  was  rudely  inter- 
rupted, in  a  glowing  speech  he  was  making,  by  some  one  crying 
out  from  the  crowd,  — 

"  Mr.  Lincoln,  is  it  true  that  you  entered  this  State  barefoot, 
driving  a  yoke  of  oxen  ?  " 

Mr.  Lincoln  paused  for  nearly  a  minute,  while  there  was  breath- 
less silence,  and  then  said  very  deliberately,  "  I  think  that  I  can 
prove  the  fact  by  at  least  a  dozen  men  in  this  crowd,  any  one  of 
whom  is  more  respectable  than  the  questioner."  Then,  resuming 
his  impassioned  strain  as  if  he  had  not  been  interrupted,  he  said, 
"  Yes,  we  will  speak  for  freedom  and  against  slavery  as  long  as 
the  Constitution  of  our  country  guarantees  free  speech ;  until 
everywhere  on  this  wide  land  the  sun  shall  shine,  and  the  rain 
shall  fall,  and  the  wind  shall  blow,  upon  no  man  who  goes  forth  to 
unrequited  toil." 

The  Missouri  mob  had  now  formed  the  Lecompton  Constitution, 
imposing  slavery  upon  Kansas ;  and  the  President  had  given  it  his 
sanction.  The  country  was  agitated  as  never  before.  Mr.  Doug- 
las had  thrown  open  the  North-west  to  the  slave-power.  It  was 
capable  of  demonstration,  that  the  Lecompton  Constitution  was 
not  the  act  of  the  people  of  Kansas.     Any  thoughtful  man  could 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  391 

have  been  assured  that  it  would  not  secure  tne  support  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  The  Silhman  Memorial,  to  which 
we  have  referred,  was  exerting  a  wide  influence ;  and  conscien- 
tious men  of  all  parties  were  denouncing  the  fraud.  Under  these 
circumstances,  Mr.  Douglas  abandoned  the  base  forgery,  and  took 
his  stand  upon  the  platform  of  the  Silliman  Memorial.  The  Demo- 
cratic State  Convention  of  Illinois  indorsed  his  position.  Still, 
Mr.  Douglas  had  not  changed  his  fundamental  position.  He  still 
advocated  the  opening  of  the  Territor}^,  which  had  been  conse- 
crated to  freedom,  to  the  entrance  of  slavery;  and  he  still  would 
allow  the  white  inhabitants  of  the  Territory,  in  their  constitution,  to 
decide  whether  or  not  they  would  perpetuate  the  enslavement  of 
the  colored  inhabitants.  But  he  would  not  support  the  doings 
of  an  armed  mob  from  Missouri,  which  had  invaded  Kansas,  chosen 
a  legislature,  and  framed  a  constitution.  Upon  this  point,  he  broke 
away  from  Mr.  Buchanan  and  his  administration. 

The  Republicans  of  Illinois  were  not  willing  to  send  back  to 
the  Senate  one  who  was  the  author  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill ; 
but  Mr.  Douglas  was  the  recognized  leader  of  the  Democratic 
party  in  Illinois,  and  they  rallied  around  him.  The  Republican 
State  Convention  met  at  Springfield  on  the  16th  of  June,  1858. 
Nearly  one  thousand  delegates  were  present.  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
unanimously  nominated  for  the  Senate  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Doug- 
las. In  the  evening,  he  addressed  the  convention  at  the  State 
House.  The  following  extracts  will  give  some  faint  idea  of  this 
remarkable  speech :  — 

"'A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe  that 
this  Government  cannot  endure  permanently  half-slave  and  half- 
free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved ;  I  do  not  expect 
the  house  to  fall :  but  I  do  expect  that  it  will  cease  to  be  divided. 
It  will  become  all  one  tiling,  or  all  another.  Either  the  opponents 
of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where 
the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the  course  of 
ultimate  extinction,  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  forward  till  it 
shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States,  old  as  well  as  new, 
North  as  well  as  South. 

"  In  the  notable  argument  of  squatter  sovereignty,  otherwise 
called  '  sacred  right  of  self-government,'  this  latter  phrase,  though 
expressive  of  the  only  rightful  basis  of  any  government,  is  so 
perverted  in  this  attempted  use  of  it,  as  to  amount  to  just  this, — 


392  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

that,  if  any  one  man  choose  to  enslave  another,  no  third  man 
shall  be  allowed  to  object." 

The  campaign  was  now  fairly  opened.  After  one  or  two 
speeches,  in  which  Mr.  Dougks  and  Mr.  Lincoln  addressed  the 
same  audiences,  but  at  different  meetings,  Mr.  Lincoln,  on  the 
24:tli  of  July,  1858,  sent  a  proposition  to  Mr.  Douglas  that  they 
should  make  arrangements  to  speak  at  the  same  meetings,  divid- 
ing the  time  between  them.  The  proposition  was  agreed  to  for 
seven  towns.  At  the  first,  Mr.  Douglas  was  to  speak  for  an  hour, 
and  Mr.  Lincoln  for  an  hour  and  a  half;  then  Mr.  Douglas  was  to 
have  the  closing  speech  of  half  an  hour.  At  the  next,  tlie  time 
occupied  was  to  be  reversed.  Thus  they  were  to  alternate  until 
the  close. 

The  first  meeting  was  at  Ottowa.  Twelve  thousand  citizens 
had  assembled.  Mr.  Douglas  had  the  opening  speech.  The 
friends  of  Mr.  Lincoln  were  roused  to  the  greatest  enthusiasm  by 
his  triumphant  reply  upon  this  occasion,  and  they  almost  literally 
bore  him  from  the  stage  upon  their  shoulders.  Immense  crowds 
attended  every  meeting.  Both  speeches  were  carefully  reported. 
The  whole  nation  looked  on  with  interest.  The  Republican  party 
were  so  well  pleased  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  success,  that  they  pub- 
lished in  one  pamphlet  the  speeches  on  both  sides,  and  circu- 
lated them  widely  as  a  campaign  document.  The  verdict  of  the 
nation  has  been,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  morally  and  intellectually 
the  victor.  ' 

By  an  unfair  apportionment  of  the  legislative  districts,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  beaten  in  his  contest  for  a  seat  in  the  Senate  ;  but,  very 
unexpectedly  to  himself,  he  won  a  far  higher  prize.  Mr.  Lincoln 
made  about  sixty  speeches  during  the  canvass.  When  asked  how 
he  felt  after  his  defeat,  he  replied  characteristically,  '^  I  felt  like 
the  boy  who  had  stubbed  his  toe,  —  too  badly  to  laugh,  and  too  big 
to  cry." 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  now  a  man  of  national  fame.  He  was  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  ablest  statesmen  and  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
men  in  the  nation.  He  was  a  good  writer,  an  able  debater,  a  man 
of  well-disciplined  mind,  and  extensive  attainments  in  political 
science.  In  years  long  since  past,  he  had  helped  to  split  rails  to 
fence  in  a  farm.  Unwisely,  the  Republican  party  introduced 
this  statesman  and  orator,  and  man  of  noble  character,  to  the 
country  as  the  '*  rail-splitter." 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:  393 

"  It  took  years,"  says  Mr.  Holland,  in  his  admirable  "Life  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,"  "  for  the  country  to  learn  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  a 
boor.  It  took  them  years  to  unlearn  what  an  unwise  and  boyish 
introduction  of  a  great  man  to  the  public  had  taught  them.  It 
took  years  for  them  to  comprehend  the  fact,  that,  in  Mr.  Lincoln, 
the  country  had  the  wisest,  truest,  gentlest,  noblest,  most  saga- 
cious President  who  had  occupied  the  chair  of  state  since  Wash- 
ington retired  from  it." 

He  visited  Kansas,  where  he  was  received  with  boundless  en- 
thusiasm. He  visited  Ohio,  and  crowds  thronged  to  hear  him. 
His  renown  was  now  such,  that  he  was  invited  to  address  the  citi- 
zens of  New  York  at  the  Cooper  Institute.  The  hall  was  crowded 
to  its  utmost  capacity  by  the  most  distinguished  men  of  that  city 
of  great  names.  Mr.  Lincoln's  address  was  a  signal  success.  All 
were  delighted.  Round  after  round  of  applause  greeted  his  tell- 
ing periods.  Mr.  Bryant,  in  giving  a  report  in  "  The  Evening 
Post,"  said,  "  For  the  publication  of  such  words  of  weight  and 
wisdom  as  those  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  pages  of  this  journal  are  in- 
definitely elastic."  The  speech  was  published  as  a  campaign 
document,  and  widely  circulated.  It  might  be  called  a  scholarly 
performance.  Its  logic  was  faultless.  In  diction,  it  presented 
one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  pure  Saxon  English.  Its  illustra- 
tions and  historic  references  indicated  wide  reading. 

In  New  York,  everybody  was  charmed  with  the  artlessness, 
frankness,  intelligence,  and  lovely  character  of  the  man.  Invita- 
tions to  speak  were  crowded  upon  him.  He  addressed  immense 
audiences  at  Hartford,  New  Haven,  Meriden,  and  Norwich.  It 
was  unquestionably  greatly  thi'ough  his  influence  that  the  State 
of  Connecticut  that  year  gave  a  Republican  majority.  The  ability 
which  he  displayed  was  very  remarkable.  A  distinguished  cler- 
gyman said,  '^  I  learned  more  of  the  art  of  public  speaking,  in 
listening  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  address  last  evening,  than  I  could  have 
learned  from  a  whole  course  of  lectures  on  rhetoric."  A  profess- 
or of  rhetoric  in  Yale  College  took  notes  of  his  speech,  and  made 
them  the  subject  of  a  lecture  to  his  class  the  next  day.  He  also 
followed  Mr.  Lincoln  to  his  next  appointment,  that  he  might  hear 
him  again.  "  What  was  it?  "  inquired  Mr.  Lincoln  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Gulliver,  who  was  complimenting  him  upon  his  speech,  "  which 
interested  you  so  much  ?  "     The  reply  was,  "  It  was  the  clearness 

50 


391  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

of  your  reasoning,  and  especially  your  illustrations,  which  were 
romance  and  pathos,  and  fun  and  logic,  all  welded  together." 

Alluding  to  the  threats  of  the  pi'oslavery  men  that  they  would 
break  up  the  Union  should  slavery  be  excluded  from  the  Territo- 
ries, he  said,  — 

"  In  that  supposed  event,  you  say  you  will  destroy  the  Union ; 
and  then  you  say  the  great  crime  of  having  destroyed  it  will  be 
upon  us.  That  is  cool.  A  highwayman  holds  a  pistol  to  my  ear, 
and  mutters  through  bis  teeth,  '  Stand  and  deliver,  or  I  shall  kill 
you,  and  then  you  will  be  a  murderer ! '  To  be  sure,  what  the 
robber  demands  of  me  —  my  money  —  was  my  own,  and  I  had  a 
clear  right  to  keep  it ;  but  it  was  no  more  my  own  than  my  vote 
is  my  own.  And  threat  of  death  to  me  to  extort  my  money,  and 
threat  of  destruction  to  the  Union  to  extort  my  vote,  can  scarcely 
be  distinguished  in  principle." 

In  conversation  with  Rev.  Mr.  Gulliver  at  this  time,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln said,  in  reply  to  the  question,  "  "What  has  your  education 
been  ?  "  —  "  Well,  as  to  education,  the  newspapers  are  correct.  I 
never  went  to  school  more  than  six  months  in  my  life.  I  can  say 
this, —  that,  among  my  earliest  recollections,!  remember  how,  when 
a  mere  child,  I  used  to  get  irritated  when  anybody  talked  to  me 
in  a  way  I  could  not  understand.  I  don't  think  I  ever  got  angry 
at  any  thing  else  in  my  life ;  but  that  always  disturbed  my  temper, 
and  has  ever  since.  I  can  remember  going  to  my  little  bedroom, 
after  hearing  the  neighbors  talk  of  an  evening  with  my  father,  and 
spending  no  small  part  of  the  night  walking  up  and  down,  and 
trying  to  make  out  what  was  the  exact  meaning  of  some  of  their, 
to  me,  dark  sayings. 

"  I  could  not  sleep,  although  I  often  tried  to,  when  I  got  on 
such  a  hunt  after  an  idea,  until  I  had  caught  it :  and,  when  I 
thought  I  had  got  it,  I  was  not  satisfied  until  I  had  repeated  it 
over  and  over ;  until  I  had  put  it  in  language  plain  enough,  as  I 
thought,  for  any  boy  I  knew  to  comprehend.  This  was  a  kind  of 
passion  with  me,  and  it  has  stuck  by  me ;  for  I  am  never  easy 
now,  when  I  am  handling  a  thought,  till  I  have  bounded  it  north, 
and  bounded  it  south,  and  bounded  it  east,  and  bounded  it  west. 

"  But  your  question  reminds  me  of  a  bit  of  education  which  I 
am  bound  in  honesty  to  mention.  In  the  course  of  my  laMM-ead- 
ing,  I  constantly  came  upon  the  word  demonstrate.  I  thought,  at 
first,  that  I  understood  its  meaning,  but  soon  became   satisfied 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  395 

that  I  did  not.  I  said  to  myself,  '  What  do  I  mean  when  I  demon- 
strate, more  than  when  I  reason  or  prove?  How  does  demonstra- 
tion differ  from  any  other  proof?'  I  consulted  Webster's  Dic- 
tionary. That  told  of  '  certain  proof/  '  proof  beyond  the  possi- 
bility of  doubt ; '  but  I  could  form  no  sort  of  idea  what  sort  of 
proof  that  was.  I  thought  that  a  great  many  things  were  proved 
beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt,  without  recourse  to  any  such 
extraordinary  process  of  reasoning  as  I  understood  demonstration 
to  be. 

"  I  consulted  all  the  dictionaries  and  books  of  reference  I  could 
find,  but  with  no  better  results.  You  might  as  well  have  defined 
Uue  to  a  blind  man.  At  last,  I  said,  '  Lincoln,  you  can  never  make 
a  lawyer  if  you  do  not  understand  what  demonstrate  means ; '  and 
I  left  my  situation  in  Springfield,  went  home  to  my  father's  house, 
and  staid  there  until  I  could  give  any  proposition  in  the  six  books 
of  Euclid  at  sight.  I  then  found  out  what  demonstrate  means, 
and  went  back  to  my  law-studies." 

The  superintendent  of  the  Five-points'  Sabbath  School  relates 
the  following  incident  in  reference  to  Mr.  Lincoln  during  his  visit 
to  that  city  :  "  One  Sunday  morning,  I  saw  a  tall,  remarkable-look- 
ing man  enter  the  room,  and  take  a  seat  among  us.  He  listened 
with  fixed  attention  to  our  exercises ;  and  his  countenance  ex- 
pressed such  a  genuine  interest,  that  I  approached  him,  and  sug- 
gested that  he  might  bo  willing  to  say  something  to  the  children. 
He  accepted  the  invitation  with  evident  pleasure,  and,  coming 
forward,  began  a  simple  address,  which  at  once  fascinated  every 
little  hearer,  and  hushed  the  room  into  silence.  His  language 
was  exceedingly  beautiful,  and  his  tones  musical  with  intense  feel- 
ing. The  little  faces  would  droop  into  sad  conviction  as  he  ut- 
tered sentences  of  warning,  and  would  brighten  into  sunshine  as 
he  spoke  cheerful  words  of  promise.  Once  or  twice  he  attempted 
to  close  his  remarks  ;  but  the  imperative  shout  of  'Go  on !  oh,  do 
go  on ! '  would  compel  him  to  resume.  As  I  looked  upon  the 
gaunt  and  sinewy  frame  of  the  stranger,  and  marked  his  powerful 
head  and  determined  features,  now  touched  into  softness  by  the 
impressions  of  the  moment,  I  felt  an  irrepressible  curiosity  to 
learn  something  more  about  him ;  and,  while  he  was  quietly  leav- 
ing the  room,  I  begged  to  know  his  name.  '  It  is  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, from  Illinois.' " 

The  secessionists  had  now  resolved,  at  all  hazards,  to  break  up 


396  LIVES  OF   TEE  PRESIDENTS. 

the  Union.  The  great  object  was  to  find  a  plausible  excuse. 
The  real  reason  was,  that  the  free  States  were  increasing  so  rap- 
idly, both  in  number  and  population,  that  the  slave  States  could 
no  longer  retain  the  direction  of  the  Government.  They  at  that 
time  had  possession  of  the  government,  of  the  army,  the  navy,  the 
treasury.  They  scattered  the  navy,  dispersed  the  army,  dis- 
mantled the  forts  and  arsenals  in  the  free  States,  accumulated 
arms  and  munitions  of  war  in  the  slave  States,  and  squandered 
the  money  in  the  treasury.  They  lioped  thus  to  render  the  Na- 
tional Government  impotent. 

They  declared,  that,  should  the  Republican  party  nominate,  and 
elect  to  the  presidency,  a  man  who  was  opposed  to  slavery,  they 
would  break  up  the  Union.  They  then  did  every  thing  in  their 
power,  in  a  treacherous  and  underhand  way,  to  secure  the  elec- 
tion of  a  Republican  President,  that  they  might  have  this  fancied 
excuse  for  their  revolt.  Future  ages  will  scarcely  credit  these 
assertions  ;  but  no  intelligent  man  at  the  present  time  will  deny 
them. 

In  the  spring  of  1860,  the  Democratic  party  held  its  National 
Convention  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  to  nominate  its  candidate  for 
the  presidency.  The  proslavery  men  bolted,  that  tliey  might 
break  up  the  party,  and  thus  secure  the  election  of  a  Re- 
publican candidate.  They  succeeded.  The  regular  Democratic 
Convention  nominated  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  The  secession  party 
organized  what  they  called  a  Constitutional  Convention,  and  nomi- 
nated John  C.  Breckenridge,  one  of  the  most  radical  of  the  pro- 
slavery  men.  A  National  Union  Convention  met,  and  nominated 
John  Bell.  This  division  rendered  it  almost  certain  that  the  Re- 
publican nominee,  whoever  he  might  be,  would  be  elected.  The 
secessionists  were  jovial,  and  pressed  on  in  the  preparation  for 
decisive  action. 

The  great  Republican  Convention  met  at  Chicago  on  the  16th 
of  June,  1860.  The  delegates  and  strangers  who  crowded  the 
city  amounted  to  twenty-five  thousand.  An  immense  building, 
called  "  The  Wigwam,"  was  reared  to  accommodate  the  Convention. 
There  were  eleven  candidates  for  whom  votes  were  thrown. 
William  H.  Seward,  a  man  whose  fame  as  a  statesman  had  long 
filled  the  land,  was  the  most  prominent.  It  was  generally  supposed 
that  he  would  be  the  nominee.  On  the  first  ballot,  Mr.  Seward 
received  one  hundred  and  seventy-three   and  a  half  votes,  and 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:  397 

Abraham  Lincoln  one  hundred  and  two.  Nearly  all  the  votes 
were  now  concentred  upon  these  two  candidates.  Upon  the 
second  ballot,  Mr.  Seward  received  one  hundred  and  eighty-four 
and  a  half  votes,  and  Mr.  Lincohi  one  hundred  and  eighty-one. 
And  now  came  the  third  ballot,  which,  it  was  ver}'-  evident,  would 
be  decisive.  Abraham  Lincoln  received  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
one  and  a  half  votes,  lacking  but  one  vote  and  a  half  of  an  election. 
Immediately  one  of  the  delegates  from  Ohio  rose,  and  transferred 
the  four  votes  of  Ohio  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  This  gave  him  the  nomi- 
nation. We  cannot  better  describe  the  scene  which  ensued  than 
in  the  language  of  Mr.  Holland  :  — ^ 

"  The  excitement  had  culminated.  After  a  moment's  pause,  like 
the  sudden  and  breathless  stillness  that  precedes  the  hurricane,  the 
storm  of  wild,  uncontrollable,  and  almost  insane  enthusiasm,  de- 
scended. The  scene  surpassed  description.  During  all  the  baliot- 
ings,  a  man  had  been  standing  upon  the  roof,  communicating  the 
results  to  the  outsiders,  who,  in  surging  masses,  far  outnumbered 
those  who  were  packed  into  the  Wigwam.  To  this  man  one  of  the 
secretaries  shouted,  '  Fire  the  salute  !  Abe  Lincoln  is  nominated  ! ' 
Then,  as  the  cheering  inside  died  awa}^,  the  roar  began  on  the  out- 
side, aud  swelled  up  from  the  excited  masses,  like  the  voice  of 
many  waters.  This  the  insiders  heard,  and  to  it  they  replied. 
Thus  deep  called  to  deep  with  such  a  frenzy  of  sympathetic 
enthusiasm,  that  even  the  thundering  salute  of  cannon  was  unheard 
by  many  on  the  platform." 

When  this  burst  of  enthusiasm  had  expended  itself,  it  was  moved 
that  the  nomination  should  be  unanimous ;  and  it  was  made 
so.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  at  this  time  at  Springfield,  two  hundred 
miles  distant,  anxiously  awaiting  the  result  of  the  ballotings.  He 
was  in  the  office  of  "  The  Springfield  Journal,"  receiving  the  tele- 
graphic despatches.  At  last  a  messenger  came  in  with  a  despatch 
in  his  hand,  and  announced,  — 

*'  The  Convention  has  made  a  nomination,  and  Mr.  Seward  is  — 
the  second  man  on  the  list." 

The  joyful  scene  which  ensued  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  friends  must 
be  imagined.  When  the  excitement  had  a  little  subsided,  he  said, 
"  There  is  a  little  woman  on  Eighth  Street  who  has  some  interest 
in  this  matter;"  and,  putting  the  telegram  into  his  pocket,  he 
walked  home.  Little  did  he  then  dream  of  the  weary  years  of  toil 
and  care,  and  the  bloody  death,  to  which  that  telegram  doomed  him  ; 


398  Lni:s  of  the  presidents. 

and  as  little  did  he  dream  that  he  was  to  render  services  to  his 
country,  which  would  fix  upon  him  the  eyes  of  the  whole  civilized 
world,  and  which  would  give  him  a  place  in  the  affections  and 
reverence  of  his  countrymen,  second  only,  if  second,  to  that  of 
Vrashington. 

The  following  day,  a  committee  of  the  Convention  waited  upon 
him  with  the  announcement  of  his  nomination.  As  it  was  known 
that  they  were  to  come,  some  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  friends  sent  in 
several  hampers  of  wine  for  their  entertainment.  But  he  was  not 
only  a  temperance  man,  but  a  "'  total-abstinence  "  man.  Resolved 
not  to  allow  that  new  temptation  to  induce  him  to  swerve  from  his 
principles,  he  returned  the  gift  with  kindest  words  of  gratitude 
for  the  favor  intended. 

Mr.  Lincoln  received  the  delegation  at  the  door  of  his  house, 
and  conducted  them  into  his  parlor.  Gov.  Morgan  of  New  York, 
in  appropriate  phrase,  informed  him  that  he  had  been  unanimously 
nominated  by  the  Convention  to  the  office  of  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  asked  permission  to  report  his  acceptance. 
At  the  close  of  the  ceremony,  Mr.  Lincoln  said,  in  substance, — 

"  As  a  suitable  conclusion  of  an  interview  so  important,  courtesy 
requires  that  I  should  treat  the  committee  with  something  to 
drink."  Then,  stepping  to  the  door,  he  called  "Mary,  Mary !  "•  A 
young  girl  responded  to  the  call.  He  said  a  few  words  to  her  in 
a  low  tone  of  voice,  and  closed  the  door.  In  a  few  moments,  the 
girl  entered,  bringing  a  large  waiter  containing  a  pitcher  and 
several  tumblers,  which  she  placed  upon  a  centre-table.  Mr. 
Lincoln  then  rose,  and  said,  — 

"  Gentlemen,  we  must  pledge  our  mutual  healths  in  the  most 
healthy  beverage  which  God  has  given  to  man.  It  is  the  only 
beverage  I  have  ever  used  or  allowed  in  my  family:  and  I  cannot 
conscientiously  depart  from  it  on  this  occasion.  It  is  pure  Adam's 
ale,  from  the  spring."' 

Taking  a  tumbler,  he  touched  it  to  his  lips;  and  all  his  guests 
followed  his  example.  The  President  subsequently  related  the 
following  singular  incident  as  having  taken  place  at  that  time :  — 
'•'  A  very  singular  occurrence  took  place  the  day  I  was  nominat- 
ed at  Chicago,  of  which  I  am  reminded  to-night.  In  the  after- 
noon of  the  day,  returning  home  from  down  town,  I  went  up  stairs 
to  Mrs.  Lincoln's  sitting-room.  Feeling  somewhat  tired,  I  lay 
down  upon  a  couch  in  the  room,  directly  opposite  a  bureau,  upon 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  399 

which  was  a  looking-glass.  As  I  reclined,  my  eye  fell  upon  the 
glass,  and  I  saw  distinctly  two  images  of  myself,  exactly  alike, 
except  that  one  was  a  little  paler  than  the  other.  I  arose,  and  lay 
down  again  with  the  same  result.  It  made  me  quite  uncomforta- 
ble for  a  few  moments ;  but,  some  friends  coming  in,  the  matter 
passed  out  of  my  mind. 

"  The  next  day,,  while  walking  in  the  street,  I  was  suddenly 
reminded  of  the  circumstance  ;  and  the  disagreeable  sensation  pro- 
duced by  it  returned.  I  determined  to  go  home,  and  place  myself 
in  the  same  position;  and,  if  the  same  effect  was  produced,  I  would 
make  up  my  mind  that  it  was  the  natural  result  of  some  principle 
of  refraction  or  optics  which  I  did  not  understand,  and  dismiss  it. 
I  tried  the  experiment  with  a  like  result;  and,  as  I  said  to  myself, 
accounting  for  it  on  some  principle  unknown  to  me,  it  ceased  to 
trouble  me. 

''  But,  some  time  ago,  I  tried  to  produce  the  same  effect  here  by 
arranging  a  glass  and  couch  in  the  same  position,  without  efTect. 
My  wife  was  somewhat  worried  about  it.  She  thought  it  was  a 
sign  that  I  was  to  be  elected  to  a  second  term  of  office,  and  that  the 
paleness  of  one  of  the  faces  was  an  omen  that  I  should  not  see  life 
through  the  second  term." 

At  the  time  of  his  nomination,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  fifty-two  years 
of  age.  There  was  then  but  little  doubt  that  he  would  be  elected. 
Crowds  flocked  to  pay  their  homage  to  one,  who,  as  President, 
would  soon  have  so  immense  a  patronage  at  his  disposal.  It 
became  necessary  that  a  room  should  be  set  apart  in  the  State 
House  for  his  receptions.  From  morning  till  night,  he  was 
busy.  In  looking  over  a  book  which  his  friends  had  prepared, 
and  which  contained  the  result  of  a  careful  canvass  of  the  city  of 
Springfield,  showing  how  each  man  would  vote,  he  was  surprised 
and  greatly  grieved  to  find  that  most  of  the  ministers  were  against 
him.     As  he  closed  the  book,  he  said  sadly, — 

'•  Here  are  twenty-three  ministers  of  different  denominations, 
and  all  of  them  are  against  mo  but  three.  Mr.  Bateman,  I  am  not 
a  Chi'istian ;  God  knows,  I  would  be  one  :  but  I  have  carefully  read 
the  Bible,  and  I  do  not  so  understand  this  book.  These  men  well 
know  that  I  am  for  freedom  in  the  Territories,  freedom  everywhere 
as  far  as  the  Constitution  and  laws  will  permit ;  and  that  my  oppo- 
nents are  for  slavery.  They  know  this  ;  and  yet  with  this  book 
in  their  hands,  in  the  light  of  which  human  bondage  cannot  live 


400  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

a  moment,  they  are  going  to  vote  against  me.  I  do  not  understand 
this." 

Then,  after  a  moment's  pause,  he  added,  "  Doesn't  it  appear 
strange  that  men  can  ignore  the  moral  aspects  of  this  contest?  A 
revelation  could  not  make  it  plainer  to  me  that  slavery  or  the 
Government  must  be  destroyed.  It  seems  as  if  God  had  borne 
with  this  slavery  until  the  very  teachers  of  religion  have  come  to 
defend  it  from  the  Bible,  and  to  claim  for  it  a  divine  character 
and  sanction ;  and  now  the  cup  of  iniquity  is  full,  and  the  vials 
of  wrath  will  be  poured  out." 

The  election-day  came.  Mr.  Lincoln  received  a  hundred  and 
eighty  electoral  votes;  Mr.  Douglas,  twelve;  Mr.  Breckenridge, 
seventy-two ;  Mr.  Bell,  thirty-nine.  The  result  of  the  election  was 
known  early  in  November.  Nearly  four  months  would  transpire 
before  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  when  he  was  to  enter  upon  his 
term  of  office. 

The  spirit  manifested  by  the  slaveholders  on  this  occasion  is 
fairly  developed  in  the  following  article  contained  in  ''  The  Ilich- 
mond  Examiner"  of  April  23,  1861:  — 

'^  The  capture  of  Washington  City  is  perfectly  within  the  power 
of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  if  Virginia  will  only  make  the  effort  by 
her  constituted  authorities ;  nor  is  there  a  single  moment  to  ose. 
The  entire  population  pant  for  the  onset.  There  never  was  half 
the  unanimity  among  the  people  before,  nor  a  tithe  of  the  zeal  upon 
any  subject,  that  is  now  manifested  to  take  Washington,  and  drive 
from  it  every  black  Republican  who  is  a  dweller  there. 

"  From  the  mountain-tops  and  valleys  to  the  shores  of  the  sea, 
there  is  one  wild  shout  of  fierce  resolve  to  capture  Washington  City 
at  all  and  every  human  hazard.  That  filthy  cage  of  unclean  birds 
must  and  will  assuredly  be  purified  by  fire.  The  people  are 
determined  upon  it,  and  are  clamorous  for  a  leader  to  conduct 
them  to  the  onslaught.  The  leader  will  assuredly  arise  ;  ay,  and 
that  right  speedily. 

''  It  is  not  to  be  endured  that  this  flight  of  abolition  harpies  shall 
come  down  from  the  black  North  for  their  roosts  in  the  heart 
of  the  South,  to  defile  and  brutalize  the  land.  They  come  as  our 
enemies.  They  act  as  our  most  deadly  foes.  They  promise  us 
bloodshed  and  fire ;  and  that  is  the  only  promise  they  have  ever 
redeemed.  The  fanatical  yell  for  the  immediate  subjugation  of  the 
whole  South  is  going  up  hourly  from  the  united  voices  of  all  the 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  401 

North  ;  and,  for  the  purpose  of  making  their  work  sure,  they  have 
determined  to  hold  Washington  City  as  the  point  whence  to  carry 
on  their  brutal  warfare. 

"  Our  people  can  take  it ;  they  will  take  it ;  and  Scott  the  arch- 
traitor,  and  Lincoln  the  beast,  combined,  cannot  prevent  it.  The 
ju«t  indignation  of  an  outraged  and  deeply-injured  people  will 
teach  the  Illinois  ape  to  repeat  his  race,  and  retrace  his  journey 
across  the  border  of  the  free  negro  States  still  more  rapidly  than 
he  came ;  and  Scott  the  traitor  will  be  given  the  opportunity  at 
the  same  time  to  try  the  difference  between  '  Scott's  Tactics '  and 
the  *  Shanghae  Drill '  for  quick  movements. 

"  Great  cleansing  and  purification  are  needed,  and  will  be  given 
to  that  festering  sink  of  iniquity,  that  wallow  of  Lincoln  and 
Scott,  —  the  desecrated  city  of  Washington ;  and  many  indeed 
will  be  the  carcasses  of  dogs  and  caitiffs  that  will  blacken  the  air 
upon  the  gallows  before  the  great  work  is  accomplished.  So  let 
it  be!" 

One  naturally  pauses  to  inquire  the  cause  of  all  this  wrath ; 
and  no  one  can  refrain  from  being  amused  to  find  that  it  was  sim- 
ply that  a  majority  of  the  nation  were  opposed  to  the  extensiotfof 
slavery  into  the  Territories,  and  that  that  majority  had  constitu- 
tionall}'  elected  as  President  one  of  the  best  and  most  eminent 
men  in  the  nation,  who  was  pledged  to  oppose,  so  far  as  he  consti- 
tutionally could,  slavery-extension.  Again  and  again,  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  declared,  and  so  had  the  party  which  elected  him,  that  he  had 
no  right  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States;  that  the  compro- 
mises of  the  Constitution  left  that  question  with  each  State  ;  and 
that  he  had  no  power  to  touch  the  domestic  institutions  of  the 
States,  except  as  a  war-measure,  in  the  case  of  war,  to  save  the 
nation  from  ruin. 

On  Mr.  Lincoln's  journey  to  Washington,  he  made  numerous 
addresses  to  the  multitudes  who  thronged  to  greet  him.  At  Cin- 
cinnati, a  large  number  of  Kentuckians  were  present.  He  said  to 
them  in  a  playful  way,  — 

"  You  perhaps  want  to  know  what  we  will  do  with  you.  I  will 
tell  you,  so  far  as  I  am  authorized  to  speak.  We  mean  to  treat 
you,  as  near  as  we  possibly  can,  as  Washington,  Jefferson,  and 
Madison  treated  3'ou.  We  mean  to  leave  you  alone,  and  in  no 
way  to  interfere  with  your  institutions;  to  abide  by  all  and  every 
compromise  of  the  Constitution ;  in  a  word,  coming  back  to  the 

51 


402  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

original  proposition,  to  treat  you,  as  far  as  degenerate  men  (if  we 
have  degenerated)  may,  according  to  the  examples  of  those  uoblo 
fathers,  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Madison.  We  mean  to  remem- 
ber that  you  are  as  good  as  we ;  that  there  is  no  difference  be- 
twe'^n  us  other  than  the  difference  of  circumstances.  We  mean 
to  recognize  and  bear  in  mind  always  that  you  have  as  good  hearts 
in  your  bosoms  as  other  people,  or  as  good  as  we  claim  to  have  ; 
and  treat  you  accordingly." 

At  Buffalo  he  said,  ''  Your  worthy  mayor  has  thought  fit  to  ex- 
press the  hope  that  I  shall  be  able  to  relieve  the  country  from  the 
present,  or,  I  should  say,  the  threatened  difficulties,  I  am  sure 
that  I  bring  a  heart  true  to  the  work.  For  the  ability  to  perform 
it,  I  trust  in  that  Supreme  Being  who  has  never  forsaken  this  fa- 
vored land.  Without  that  assistance,  I  shall  surely  fail;  with  it,  I 
cannot  fail."  \ 

At  Philadelphia,  where  he  was  received  with  the  greatest  enthu- 
siasm, he  gave  utterance  to  the  following  noble  sentiments :  "  I 
have  often  inquired  of  myself  what  great  principle  or  idea  it  was 
that  kept  this  confederacy  so  long  together.  It  was  not  the  mere 
matter  of  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  mother-land, 
but  that  sentiment  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  which  gave 
liberty,  not  alone  to  the  people  of  this  country,  but,  I  hope,  to  the 
world  for  all  future  time.  It  was  that  which  gave  promise,  that, 
in  due  time,  the  weight  would  be  lifted  from  the  shoulders  of  all 
men.  This  was  a  sentiment  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be  saved  on  this 
basis^?  If  it  can,  I  shall  consider  myself  one  of  the  happiest  men 
in  the  world  if  I  can  help  save  it;  if  it  cannot  be  saved  on  that 
principle,  it  will  be  truly  awful.  But,  if  this  country  cannot  be 
saved  without  giving  up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say  I 
would  rather  be  assassinated  upon  this  spot  than  surrender  it. 
Now,  in  my  view  of  the  present  aspect  of  affairs,  there  need  be  no 
bloodshed  or  war.  There  is  no  necessity  for  it.  I  am  not  in  favor 
of  such  a  course  ;  and  I  may  say  in  advance,  that  there  will  be  no 
bloodshed  unless  it  be  forced  upon  the  Government,  and  then  it 
will  be  compelled  to  act  in  self-defence," 

At  Harrisburg,  where  there  was  a  large  military  display,  he 
remarked,  "  While  I  am  exceedingly  gratified  to  see  the  mani- 
festation in  your  streets  of  the  military  force  here,  and  exceedingly 
gratified  at  your  promise  here  to  use  that  force   upon  a  proper 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:  403 

emergency,  I  desire  to  repeat,  to  preclude  any  possible  miscon- 
struction, that  I  do  most  sincerely  hope  that  we  shall  have  no  use  for 
them  ;  that  it  will  never  become  their  duty  to  shed  blood,  and 
most  especially  never  to  shed  fraternal  blood.  I  promise,  that,  so 
far  as  I  may  have  wisdom  to  direct,  if  so  painful  a  result  shall  in 
any  wise  be  brought  about,  it  shall  be  through  no  fault  of  mine." 

In  South  Carolina,  four  days  after  the  election,  a  bill  was  intro- 
duced into  the  legislature,  calling  out  ten  thousand  volunteers  ; 
her  two  senators  in  congress  resigned  their  seats ;  and  a  conven- 
tion was  called  to  pass  an  act  of  secession.  The  rebels  had  made 
their  preparations  for  vigorous  action.  They  had  nothing  to  fear 
from  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  their  object  was  to  get  their  strength 
consolidated  before  Mr.  Lincoln  should  come  into  power. 

On  the  27th  of  December,  1860,  Fort  Moultrie  and  Castle  Pinck- 
ney  were  seized,  and  the  revenue-cutter  "  William  Aikin  "  taken 
possession  of  at  Charleston.  Three  days  after,  the  arsenal  was 
seized.  On  the  2d  of  January,  1861,  Fort  Macon  in  North  Caro- 
lina, and  the  arsenal  at  Fayetteville,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
rebels.  On  the  3d,  an  armed  mob  from  Georgia  took  possession 
of  Forts  Pulaski  and  Jackson,  and  the  arsenal  at  Savannah.  The 
next  day,  the  4th,  Fort  Morgan,  and  the  arsenal  at  Mobile,  were 
seized  by  a  band  of  Alabamians.  On  the  8th,  Forts  Johnson  and 
Caswell,  at  Smithville,  N.  C,  were  captured,  without  a  struggle, 
by  the  rebels.  The  next  day,  the  9th,  "  The  Star  of  the 
West,"  an  unarmed  steamer  bearing  supplies  to  the  garrison  in 
Fort  Sumter,  was  fired  upon  by  a  rebel  battery,  and  driven  back. 
On  the  12th,  Fcrt  M'Rae,  Fort  Barrancas,  and  the  navy-yard  at 
Pensacola,  in  Florida,  were  taken  possession  of  by  the  rebels. 
The  day  before,  armed  gangs  in  Louisiana  seized  Forts  Pike,  St. 
Philip,  and  Jackson,  and  the  arsenal  at  Baton  Rouge. 

These  United-States  forts  had  cost  the  National  Government 
$5,947,000;  were  pierced  for  1,091  guns,  and  adapted  for  a  war 
garrison  of  5,430  men.  Mr.  Buchanan  did  not  lift  a  finger  to  arrest 
or  to  resent  these  outrages. 

On  the  17th  of  December,  the  convention  in  South  Carolina 
declared  the  Union  dissolved,  and  that  South  Carolina  was  a  free, 
sovereign,  and  independent  State.  This  act  was  speedily  imitated 
by  several  other  slave  States.  The  rapidly-recurring  scenes  of 
these  days  of  darkness  and  gloom  we  have  not  space  here  to 
describe.     The  air  was  filled  with  rumors  that  President  Lincoln 


404  LIVES  OF   THE  PRESIUENTS. 

was  to  be  assassinated  on  his  journey  to  Washington.  In  taking 
leave  of  his  friends  at  the  depot  in  Springfield,  he  said,  in  a  speech 
full  of  tenderness  and  pathos, — 

'■  My  friends,  no  one  not  in  my  position  can  appreciate  the 
sadness  I  feel  at  this  parting.  I  know  not  how  soon  I  shall  see 
you  again.  A  duty  devolves  upon  me  which  is  perhaps  greater 
tlian  that  which  has  devolved  upon  any  other  man  since  the  days 
of  Washington.  He  never  would  have  succeeded  except  for  the 
aid  of  Divine  Providence,  upon  which  he  at  all  times  relied.  I 
feel  that  I  cannot  succeed  without  the  same  divine"  aid  which 
sustained  him.  In  the  same  Almighty  Being  I  place  my  reliance 
for  support ;  and  I  hope  that  my  friends  will  all  pray  that  I  may 
receive  that  divine  assistance,  without  which  I  cannot  succeed, 
but  with  which  success  is  certain.  Again  I  bid  you  all  an  affec- 
tionate farewell." 

In  every  city  through  which  he  passed,  he  was  greeted  with 
enthusiasm  perhaps  never  before  equalled  in  the  United  States. 
It  was  evident,  however,  that  the  secessionists  were  seeking  his 
life.  At  one  time,  an  attempt  was  made  to  throw  the  train  off  the 
track.  At  Cincinnati,  a  hand-grenade  was  found  concealed  upon 
the  train.  A  gang  in  Baltimore  had  arranged,  upon  his  arrival,  to 
"  get  up  a  row,"  and,  in  the  confusion,  to  make  sure  of  his  death 
with  revolvers  and  hand-grenades.  A  detective  unravelled  the 
plot.  A  secret  and  special  train  was  provided  to  take  him  from 
Harrisburg,  through  Baltimore,  at  an  unexpected  hour  of  the 
night.  The  train  started  at  half-past  ten  ;  and,  to  prevent  any  pos- 
sible communication  on  the  part  of  the  secessionists  with  their 
Confederate  gang  in  Baltimore,  as  soon  as  the  train  had  started, 
the  telegraph-wires  were  cut. 

Mr.  Lincoln  took  a  sleeping-car,  and  passed  directly  through 
Baltimore  to  Washington,  where  he  arrived  at  half-past  six  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  His  safe  arrival  was  immediately  telegraphed 
over  the  country.  Great  anxiety  was  felt  in  reference  to  the 
inauguration-day.  Washington  was  full  of  traitors.  Slavery  had 
so  debauched  the  conscience  in  the  slaveholding  States,  that  the 
assassination  of  a  man  who  did  not  believe  in  slavery  was  scarce 
deemed  a  crime. 

The  week  of  the  inauguration  was  one  of  the  greatest  peril  and 
anxiety  the  nation  had  ever  experienced.  The  air  was  filled  with 
rumors   of  conspiracies.     It  was  well  known    that    there   were 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  405 

thousands  of  desperate  men,  resolved  by  tumult  and  murder  to 
prevent  the  inauguration,  and  then  to  seize  the  capital.  Multi- 
tudes of  strange-looking  men  thronged  the  streets  of  Washington, 
armed  with  bowie-knives  and  revolvers. 

The  morning  of  the  4th  of  March  dawned  serene  and  beautiful. 
Even  at  an  early  hour,  Pennsylvania  Avenue  presented  such  a 
mass  of  human  beings  as  had  never  crowded  it  before.  At  nine 
o'clock,  the  procession  moved  from  the  White  House.  It  was  very 
imposing.  A  triumphal  car,  magnificently  draped,  emblematic 
of  the  Constitution,  bore  thirty-four  very  beautiful  young  girls, 
picturesquely  dressed,  as  representatives  of  the  several  States  ; 
none  being  recognized  as  having  seceded. 

Mr.  Buchanan  and  Mr.  Lincoln  rode  side  by  side  in  the  same 
carriage.  They  ascended  the  long  flight  of  steps  of  the  Capitol 
arm-in-arm.  It  was  observed  that  Mr.  Buchanan  looked  pale  and 
anxious,  and  that  he  was  nervously  excited.  Mr.  Lincoln's  face 
was  slightly  flushed,  his  lips  compressed ;  and  his  countenance  wore 
an  expression  of  great  firmness  and  seriousness.  Gen.  Scott,  in 
his  Autobiography,  says, — 

"  The  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln  was  perhaps  the  most 
critical  and  hazardous  event  with  which  I  have  ever  been  con- 
nected. In  the  preceding  two  months,  I  had  received  more  than 
fifty  letters,  many  from  points  distant  from  each  other,  some  ear- 
nestly dissuading  me  from  being  present  at  the  event,  and  others 
distinctly  threatening  assassination  if  I  dared  to  protect  the  cere- 
mony by  military  force." 

But  for  the  formidable  military  display,  there  would  unquestion- 
ably have  been  tumult  and  assassination.  Gen.  Scott  called  out 
the  Washington  Volunteers  ;  brought  from  a  distance  two  bat- 
teries of  horse-artillery,  with  detachments  of  cavalry  and  infontry, 
all  regulars.  The  volunteers  escorted  the  President,  while  the 
regulars  flanked  the  movement,  marching  in  parallel  streets.  A 
fine  company  of  sappers  and  miners  led  the  advance.  It  was 
under  this  imposing  array  of  cannon  and  bayonets  that  it  was 
necessary  to  conduct  the  legally-chosen  President  of  the  United 
States  to  his  inauguration. 

Mr.  Lincoln  took  his  stand  upon  the  platform  of  the  eastern 
portico  of  the  Capitol.  Thirty  thousand  persons  stood  before  him. 
There  were  many  sharpshooters,  who,  from  the  distance  of  nearly 
a   mile,  could   throw  a  bullet  into  his  heart.     It  is   hardly  too 


406  LIVES  OF  TUE  PRESIDENTS. 

much  to  say,  that  the  nation  trembled.  Mr.  Lincoln  unrolled  a 
manuscript,  and  in  a  clear  voice,  which  seemed  to  penetrate  with 
its  distinct  articulation  the  remotest  ear,  read  his  inaugural.  We 
have  not  space  for  the  whole  of  this  noble  document. 

"  Apprehension,"  said  he,  "  seems  to  exist  among  the  people  of 
the  Southern  States,  that,  by  the  accession  of  a  Republican  admin- 
istration, their  property  and  their  peace  and  personal  security  are 
to  be  endangered.  There  has  never  been  any  reasonable  cause  for 
such  apprehension.  Indeed,  the  most  ample  evidence  to  the  con- 
trary has  all  the  while  existed,  and  been  open  to  their  inspection. 
It  is  found  in  nearly  all  the  published  speeches  of  him  who  now 
addresses  you.  I  do  but  quote  from  one  of  those  speeches,  when 
I  declare  that  I  have  no  purpose,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  inter- 
fere with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  exists. 
I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so ;  and  I  have  no  inclina- 
tion to  do  so.  Those  who  nominated  and  elected  me  did  so  with 
the  full  knowledge  that  I  had  made  this  and  made  many  similar 
declarations,  and  had  never  recanted  them ;  and,  more  than  this, 
they  placed  in  the  platform,  for  my  acceptance,  and  as  a  law  to 
themselves  and  to  me,  the  clear  and  emphatic  resolution  which  I 
now  read :  — 

'^ '  Resolved,  That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of  the  rights  of  the 
States,  and  especially  the  right  of  each  State  to  order  and  control 
its  own  domestic  institutions  according  to  its  own  judgment  ex- 
clusively, is  essential  to  that  balance  of  power  on  which  the  per- 
fection and  endurance  of  our  political  fabric  depend ;  and  we 
denounce  the  lawless  invasion  by  armed  force  of  the  soil  of  any 
State  or  Territory,  no  matter  under  what  pretext,  as  among  the 
gravest  of  crimes.' 

"  I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments  ;  and,  in  doing  so,  I  only  press 
upon  the  public  attention  the  most  conclusive  evidence  of  which 
the  case  is  susceptible,  that  the  property,  peace,  and  security  of 
no  section  are  to  be  in  any  wise  endangered  by  the  now  incom- 
ing administration. 

"  I  add,  too,  that  all  the  protection  which,  consistently  with  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws,  can  be  given,  will  be  cheerfully  given 
to  all  the  States,  when  lawfully  demanded,  for  whatever  cause,  as 
cheerfully  to  one  section  as  to  another. 

"  A  disruption  of  the  Federal  Union,  heretofore  only  menaced,  is 
now  formidably  attempted.     I  hold,  that,  in  the  contemplation  of 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  407 

universal  law  and  of  the  Constitution,  the  union  of  these  States  is 
perpetual.  Perpetuity  is  implied,  if  not  expressed,  in  the  funda- 
mental law  of  all  national  governments.  It  is  safe  to  assert,  that 
no  government  proper  ever  had  a  provision  in  its  organic  law  for 
its  own  termination.  Continue  to  execute  all  the  express  pro- 
visions of  our  National  Constitution,  and  the  Union  will  endure 
forever;  it  being  impossible  to  destroy  it,  except  by  some  action 
not  provided  for  in  the  instrument  itself. 

'•'Again:  if  the  United  States  be  not  a  government  proper,  but 
an  association  of  States  in  the  nature  of  a  contract  merely,  can  it, 
as  a  contract,  be  peaceably  unmade  by  less  than  all  the  parties 
who  made  it  ?  One  party  to  a  contract  may  violate  it,  —  break  it, 
so  to  speak ;  but  does  it  not  require  all  to  lawfully  rescind  it  ? 
Descending  from  these  general  principles,  we  find  the  proposition, 
that,  in  legal  contemplation,  the  Union  is  perpetual,  confirmed  by 
the  history  of  the  Union  itself. 

"  The  Union  is  much  older  than  the  Constitution.  It  was 
formed,  in  fact,  by  the  Articles  of  Association,  in  1774.  It  was 
matured  and  continued  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in 
1776.  It  was  further  matured,  and  the  faith  of  all  the  then  thirteen 
States  expressly  plighted  and  engaged  that  it  should  be  perpetual, 
by  the  Articles  of  the  Confederation,  in  1778  ;  and  finally,  in  1778, 
one  of  the  declared  objects  for  ordaining  and  establishing  the 
Constitution  was  to  form  a  more  perfect  union.  But,  if  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Union  by  one  or  by  a  part  only  of  the  States  be  law- 
fully possible,  the  Union  is  less  perfect  than  before ;  the  Constitu- 
tion having  lost  the  vital  element  of  perpetuity. 

"  It  follows  from  these  views,  that  no  State,  upon  its  own  mere 
motion,  can  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union  ;  that  resolves  and 
ordinances  to  that  efiect  are  legally  void ;  and  that  acts  of  vio- 
lence within  any  State  or  States,  against  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,  are  insurrectionary  or  revolutionary,  according  to 
circumstances. 

"  I  therefore  consider,  that,  in  view  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws,  the  Union  is  unbroken ;  and,  to  the  extent  of  my  ability,  I 
shall  take  care,  as  the  Constitution  itself  expressly  enjoins  upon  me, 
that  the  laws  of  the  Union  shall  be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the 
States.  Doing  this,  which  I  deem  to  be  only  a  simple  duty  on  my 
part,  I  shall  perfectly  perform  it,  so  far  as  is  practicable,  unless 
my   rightful   masters,  the  American  people,  shall  withhold  the 


408  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

requisition,  or  in  some  authoritative  manner  direct  the  con- 
trary. 

"  I  trust  this  will  not  be  regarded  as  a  menace,  but  only  as  the 
declared  purpose  of  the  Union,  that  it  will  constitutionally  defend 
and  maintain  itself. 

"  The  power  confided  to  me  will  be  used  to  hold,  occup}',  and 
possess  the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the  Government,  and 
collect  the  duties  and  imposts  ;  but,  beyond  what  may  be  neces- 
sary for  these  objects,  there  will  be  no  invasion,  no  using  of  force 
against  or  among  the  people  anywhere. 

*•  All  the  vital  rights  of  minorities  and  of  individuals  are  so 
plainly  assured  to  them  by  affirmations  and  negations,  guaranties 
and  prohibitions,  in  the  Constitution,  that  controversies  never  arise 
concerning  them ;  but  no  organic  law  can  ever  be  framed  with  a 
provision  specifically  applicable  to  every  question  which  may  oc- 
cur in  practical  administration.  No  foresight  can  anticipate,  nor 
any  document  of  reasonable  length  contain,  express  provisions  for 
all  possible  questions.  Shall  fugitives  from  labor  be  surrendered 
by  National,  or  by  State  authorities?  The  Constitution  does  not 
expressly  say.  Must  Congress  protect  slavery  in  the  Territories  ? 
The  Constitution  does  not  expressly  say.  From  questions  of  this 
class  spring  all  our  constitutional  controversies,  and  we  divide 
upon  them  into  majorities  and  minorities. 

'•  If  the  minority  will  not  acquiesce,  the  majority  must,  or  the 
Government  must  cease.  There  is  no  alternative  for  continuing 
the  Government  but  acquiescence  on  the  one  side  or  the  other. 
If  a  minority  in  such  a  case  will  secede  rather  than  acquiesce, 
they  make  a  precedent,  which,  in  turn,  will  I'uin  and  divide  them : 
for  a  minority  of  their  own  will  secede  from  them  whenever  a 
majority  refuses  to  be  controlled  by  such  a  minority :  for  in- 
stance, why  not  any  portion  of  a  new  confederacy,  a  year  or  two 
hence,  arbitrarily  secede  again,  precisely  as  portions  of  the  pres- 
ent Union  now  claim  to  secede  from  it?  All  who  cherish  dis- 
union sentiments  are  now  being  educated  to  the  exact  temper  of 
doing  this.  Is  there  such  perfect  identity  of  interests  among  the 
States  to  compose  a  new  Union  as  to  produce  harmony  only,  and 
prevent  secession  ?  Plainly  the  central  idea  of  secession  is  the 
essence  of  anarchy. 

'•One  section  of  ouj;  country  believes  slavery  is  right,  and 
ought  to  be  extended  ;  while  the  other  believes  it  is  wrong,  and 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  409 

ought  not  to  be  extended.  And  this  is  the  only  substantial  dis- 
pute. Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  separate  ;  we  cannot  re- 
move our  respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor  build  an  impass- 
able wall  between  them.  A  husband  and  wife  may  be  divorced, 
and  go  out  of  the  presence  and  beyond  the  reach  of  each  other ; 
but  the  different  parts  of  our  country  cannot  do  this.  They  can- 
not but  remain  face  to  face  ;  and  intercourse,  either  amicable  or 
hostile,  must  continue  between  them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  to 
make  that  intercourse  more  advantageous  or  more  satisfactory 
after  separation  than  before?  Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier 
than  friends  can  make  laws  ?  Can  treaties  be  more  faithfully  en- 
forced between  aliens  than  laws  can  among  friends?  Suppose 
you  go  to  war,  you  cannot  fight  always  ;  and  when,  after  much 
loss  on  both  sides,  and  no  gain  on  either,  you  cease  fighting,  the 
identical  questions  as  to  terms  of  intercourse  are  again  upon  you. 

''  This  country,  with  its  institutions,  belongs  to  the  people  who 
inhabit  it.  Wlienever  they  shall  grow  weary  of  the  existing 
government,  they  can  exercise  their  constitutional  right. of  amend- 
ing, or  their  revolutionary  right  to  dismember  or  overthrow  it.  I 
cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  many  worthy  and  patriotic 
citizens  are  desirous  of  having  the  National  Constitution  amended. 
While  I  make  no  recommendation  of  amendment,  I  fully  recognize 
the  lull  authority  of  the  people  over  the  whole  subject,  to  be  ex- 
ercised in  either  of  the  modes  prescribed  in  the  instrument 
itself;  and  I  should,  under  existing  circumstances,  favor  rather 
than  oppose  a  fair  opportunity  being  afforded  the  people  to  act 
upon  it. 

"  My  countrymen,  one  and  all,  think  calmly  and  well  upon  this 
whole  subject.     Nothing  valuable  can  be  lost  by  taking  time. 

*'  If  there  be  an  object  to  huny  any  of  you  in  hot  haste  to  a 
step  which  you  would  never  take  deliberately,  that  object  will  be 
frustrated  by  taking  time  ;  but  no  good  object  can  be  frustrated 
by  it. 

"  Such  of  you  as  are  now  dissatisfied  still  have  the  old  Consti- 
tution unimpaired,  and,  on  the  sensitive  point,  the  laws  of  your 
own  framing  under  it ;  while  the  new  administration  will  have  no 
immediate  power,  if  it  would,  to  change  either. 

''If  it  were  admitted  that  you  who  are  dissatisfied  hold  the  right 
side  in  the  dispute,  there  is  still  no  single  reason  for  precipitate  ac- 
tion.    Intelligence,  patiiotism,  Christianity,  and  a  firm  reliance  on 

52 


410  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Him  who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this  favored  land,  are  still  compe- 
tent to  adjust,  in  the  best  wa}^,  all  our  present  difficulties. 

"In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen,  and  not  in 
mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war.  The  Government  will 
not  assail  you. 

"  You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves  the  ag- 
gressors. You  have  no  oath  registered  in  heaven  to  destroy  the 
Government ;  while  I  shall  have  the  most  solemn  one  to  '  preserve, 
protect,  and  defend  '  it. 

"  I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We 
must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it  must 
not  break,  our  bonds  of  aifection. 

"  The  mystic  cords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battle- 
field and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all 
over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when 
again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our 
nature." 

At  the  close  of  this  solemn  and  imposing  scene,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  escorted  back  to  the  White  House,  where  Mr.  Buchanan  took 
leave  of  him.  He  was  asked  if  he  felt  alarmed  at  any  time  while 
reading  his  address.  His  reply  was,  that  he  had  often  experienced 
greater  fear  in  speaking  to  a  dozen  Western  men  on  the  subject 
of  temperance. 

And  now  commenced  his  life  of  care  and  toil  and  sorrow,  to  ter- 
minate in  a  bloody  death.  Mr.  Lincoln's  conciliatory  words  had  no 
softening  influence  upon  the  hearts  of  the  secessionists.  They 
knew  that  it  was  only  by  violence  and  revolution  that  they  could 
so  strengthen  the  institution  of  slavery  as  to  make  it  permanent 
upon  this  continent ;  and  they  still  believed  that  the  North  would 
yield  to  their  demands,  rather  than  appeal  to  the  dreadful  arbitra- 
ment of  the  sword.  "  The  Yankees,"  said  one  of  their  speakers, 
"  are  a  cowardly  race,  and  I  will  pledge  myself  to  hold  in  the  hollow 
of  my  hand  and  to  drink  every  drop  of  blood  that  will  be  shed." 

The  demon  of  rebellion  was  unappeased.  Treason  was  every- 
where. Openly  avowed  traitors  to  the  Union  were  in  every 
department  of  the  Government.  No  step  could  be  taken,  and 
there  could  be  no  deliberation,  which  was  not  immediately  re- 
ported to  the  rebels.  Seven  States  were  now  in  revolt.  There 
were  seven  other  slave  States,  which  it  was  absolutely  necessary 
the  secessionists  should  secure  in  order  to  have  any  chance  of 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:  411 

success.     On  the  12th  of  April,  the  rebels  in  Charleston  opened 
tire  upon  Fort  Sumter.     This  introduced  the  war. 

The  rebels  were  so  infatuated  as  to  anticipate  an  easy  victory. 
They  had  already  inaugurated  their  government  at  Montgomery. 
Elated  with  the  news  of  the  bombardment  and  capture  of  Fort 
Sumter,  Mr.  Walker,  the  rebel  Secretary  of  War,  addressing  the 
shouting  throng,  said,  — 

"  No  man  can  tell  where  this  war,  commenced  this  day,  will  end  ; 
but  I  will  prophesy  that  the  flag  which  now  flaunts  the  breeze 
here  will  float  over  the  dome  of  the  old  Capitol  at  Washington 
before  the  1st  of  May.  Let  them  try  Southern  chivalry,  and  test 
the  extent  of  Southern  resources,  and  it  may  float  eventually  over 
Faneuil  Hall  itself" 

With  wonderful  unanimity,  the  North  rallied  around  the  imper- 
illed flag  of  the  nation.  The  rebels  crushed  out  all  opposition 
to  secession  within  their  borders,  and  forced  every  available  man 
into  the  ranks.  Mr.  Lincoln,  three  days  after  the  capture  of  Sum- 
ter, issued  a  proclamation  calling  for  seventy-five  thousand  troops 
to  defend  the  national  capital,  which  the  rebels  threatened  to  seize  ; 
and  soon  after  he  declared  the  ports  in  the  rebellious  States  under 
blockade. 

In  an  evil  hour,  Virginia  joined  the  rebels.  Terrible  was  her 
punishment.  Mr.  Douglas  nobly  came  forward,  and  gave  all  of 
his  strong  influence  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  As  he  read  the  President's 
proclamation  calling  for  seventy-five  thousand  men,  he  said,  — 

"  Mr.  President,  I  cordially  concur  in  every  word  of  that  docu- 
ment, except  that,  in  the  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  men,  I 
would  make  it  two  hundred  thousand.  You  do  not  know  the  dis- 
honest purposes  of  those  men  as  well  as  I  do." 

On  the  1st  of  May,  Senator  Douglas  addressed  an  immense 
gathering  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  Ten  thousand  persons  thronged 
the  Wigwam.  The  eloquent  senator  spoke  in  strains  which  thrilled 
the  heart  of  the  nation.  "  I  beg  you  to  believe,"  said  he,  "  that 
I  will  not  do  you  or  myself  the  injustice  to  think  that  this  magnifi- 
cent ovation  is  personal  to  myself.  I  rejoice  to  know  that  it  ex- 
presses your  devotion  to  the  Constitution,  the  Union,  and  the  flag 
of  our  country.  I  will  not  conceal  my  gratification  at  the  incon- 
trovertible test  this  vast  audience  presents,  —  that  whatever  polit- 
ical difl"erences  or  party  questions  may  have  divided  us,  yet  you 
all  had  a  conviction,  that,  when  the  country  should  be  in  danger, 


412  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

my  loyalty  could  be  relied  on.  That  the  present  danger  is  immi- 
nent, no  man  can  conceal.  If  war  must  come,  if  the  bayonet 
must  be  used  to  maintain  the  Constitution,  I  say  before  God,  my 
conscience  is  clean.  I  have  struggled  long  for  a  peaceful  solution 
of  the  difficulty.  I  have  not  only  tendered  those  States  what  was 
their  right,  but  I  have  gone  to  the  very  extreme  of  magnanimity. 

^'  The  return  we  receive  is  war,  armies  marched  upon  our  capi- 
tal, obstruction  and  danger  to  our  navigation,  letters  of  marque 
to  invite  pirates  to  prey  upon  our  commerce,  and  a  concerted 
movement  to  blot  out  the  United  States  of  America  from  the  map 
of  the  globe.  The  question  is,  'Are  we  to  maintain  the  country 
of  our  fathers,  or  allow  it  to  be  sti'icken  down  by  those,  who, 
when  they  can  no  longer  govern,  threaten  to  destroy? ' 

''What  cause,  what  excuse,  do  disunionists  give  us  for  breaking 
up  the  best  government  on  which  the  sun  of  heaven  ever  shed  its 
rays  ?  They  are  dissatisfied  with  the  result  of  the  presidential 
election.  Did  they  never  get  beaten  before?  Are  we  to  resort 
to  the  sword  when  we  get  beaten  at  the  ballot-box  ?  I  understand 
it  that  the  voice  of  the  people,  expressed  in  the  mode  appointed 
by  the  Constitution,  must  command  the  obedience  of  every  citi- 
zen. They  assume,  on  the  election  of  a  particular  candidate,  that 
their  rights  are  not  safe  in  the  Union.  What  evidence  do  they 
present  of  this  ?  I  defy  any  man  to  show  any  act  on  which  it  is 
based.  What  act  has  been  omitted  to  be  done  ?  I  appeal  to  these 
assembled  thousands,  that,  so  far  as  the  constitutional  rights  of 
slaveholders  are  concerned,  nothing  has  been  done,  and  nothing 
omitted,  of  which  they  can  complain, 

"  There  has  never  been  a  time,  from  the  day  that  Washington 
was  inaugurated  first  President  of  these  United  States,  when  the 
rights  of  the  Southern  States  stood  firmer  under  the  laws  of  the 
land  than  they  do  now ;  there  never  was  a  time  when  they  had 
not  as  good  cause  for  disunion  as  they  have  to-day.  What  good 
cause  have  they  now,  Avhich  has  not  existed  under  every  adminis- 
tration ? 

"  If  they  say  the  territorial  question,  now,  for  the  first  time, 
there  is  no  act  of  Congress  prohibiting  slavery  anywhere.  If  it 
be  the  non-enforcement  of  the  laws,  the  only  complaints  I  have 
heard  liave  been  of  the  too  vigorous  and  faithful  fullfilment  of 
the  Fugitive-slave  Law.  Then  what  reason  have  they  ?  The 
slavery  question  is  a  mere  excuse.     The  election  of  Lincoln  is  a 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  413 

mere  pretext.  The  present  secession  movement  is  the  result  of 
an  enormous  conspiracy  formed  more  than  a  year  since,  formed  by 
leaders  in  the  Southern  Confederacy  more  than  twelve  months  ago. 

"  But  this  is  no  time  for  the  detail  of  causes.  The  conspiracy 
is  now  known.  Armies  have  been  raised,  war  is  levied,  to  accom- 
plish it.  There  are  only  two  sides  to  the  question.  Every  man 
must  be  for  the  United  States  or  against  it.  There  can  be  no 
neutrals  in  this  war;  oiAj patriots  or  traitors.''^ 

We  have  no  space  here  to  enter  into  the  details  of  the  war 
which  ensued,  which  cost  half  a  million  of  lives,  and  an  expendi- 
ture of  treasure  and  a  destruction  of  property  which  cannot  be 
computed.  On  the  Gtli  of  March,  1862,  Mr.  Lincoln  recommended 
that  the  United  States  should  co-operate  with  any  State  "  which 
may  gradually  adopt  abolishment  of  slavery,  by  giving  to  such 
State  pecuniary  aid,  to  be  used  at  its  discretion  to  compensate  for 
inconveniences,  public  and  private,  produced  by  such  changes  of 
system." 

The  rebels  were  continually  cheered  by  the  hope  that  all  the 
border  States  would  join  them.  Mr.  Lincoln  invited  the  represen- 
tatives of  those  States  to  a  conference  with  him,  in  wdiich  he  said 
to  them,  urging  them  to  accept  emancipation  w^itli  compensation,  — 

"  Let  the  States  which  are  in  rebellion  see  definitely  and  certain- 
ly, that  in  no  event  will  the  States  you  represent  ever  join  their 
proposed  confederacy,  and  they  cannot  much  longer  maintain  the 
contest.  Can  you,  for  your  States,  do  better  than  take  the  course 
I  urge?  The  incidents  of  war  cannot  be  avoided.  If  the  war 
continue  long,  the  institution  in  your  States  will  be  extinguished 
by  mere  friction  and  abrasion.  It  will  be  gone,  and  you  will  have 
nothing  valuable  in  lieu  of  it.  Much  of  its  value  is  gone  already. 
How  much  better  for  you  and  your  people  to  take  the  step  Avhich 
at  once  shortens  tlie  war,  and  secures  substantial  compensation  for 
that  which  is  sure  to  be  wholly  lost  in  any  other  event !  How 
much  better  thus  to  save  the  money,  which  else  we  sink  forever 
in  the  war !" 

The  border-State  men  were  blind  and  obdurate.  Two  acts,  by 
Mr.  Lincoln's  recommendation,  were  soon  passed  by  Congress.  One 
confiscated  the  slaves  of  masters  who  were  in  open  rebellion:  the 
other  abolished  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

He  was  urged  to  issue  a  proclamation  of  emancipation,  before,  in 
his  judgment,  the  country  was  prepared  for  it.     He  replied, ''  I  do 


t 


414  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

not  want  to  issue  a  document  that  the  whole  world  will  see  must 
necessarily  be  inoperative,  like  the  Pope's  bull  against  the  comet." 

At  length,  he  judged  that  the  hour  for  decisive  action  had  come  ; 
and  on  Monday,  Sept.  22,  1862,  Mr.  Lincoln  issued  his  renowned 
proclamation,  declaring  that  on  the  1st  of  January,  1863,  all  the 
slaves  in  States  then  continuing  in  rebellion  should  be  free. 

In  cabinet-meeting,  he  said  to  Mr.  Chase,  "  I  made  a  solemn  vow 
before  God,  that,  if  Gen.  Lee  should  be  driven  back  from  Penn- 
sylvania, I  would  crown  the  result  by  the  declaration  of  freedom 
to  the  slaves." 

The  excitement  which  this  proclamation  created  was  intense ; 
many  applauding,  many  condemning.  In  a  brief  address  which  he 
soon  made,  he  said,  "  What  I  did,  I  did  after  a  very  full  delibera- 
tion, and  under  a  heavy  and  solemn  sense  of  responsibility.  I  can 
only  trust  in  God  that  I  have  made  no  mistake."  Two  years  after, 
he  was  enabled  to  say,  "  As  affairs  have  turned,  it  is  the  central 
act  of  my  administration,  and  the  great  event  of  the  nineteenth 
century." 

President  Lincoln  gives  the  following  account  of  the  draughting 
of  the  proclamation,  and  the  discussion  in  the  cabinet  respecting 
it:  — 

*'  It  had  got  to  be  midsummer,  1862.  Things  had  gone  on  from 
bad  to  worse,  until  I  felt  that  we  had  reached  the  end  of  our 
rope  on  the  plan  of  operations  we  had  been  pursuing ;  that  we  had 
about  played  our  last  card,  and  must  change  our  tactics,  or  lose  the 
game.  I  now  determ.ined  upon  the  adoption  of  the  emancipation 
policy ;  and,  without  consultation  with  or  the  knowledge  of  the 
cabinet,  I  prepared  the  original  draught  of  the  proclamation,  and, 
after  much  anxious  thought,  called  a  cabinet-meeting  upon  the 
subject.  This  was  the  last  of  July,  or  the  first  part  of  the  month 
of  August,  1862. 

"  This  cabinet-meeting  took  place,  I  think,  upon  a  Saturday.  All 
were  present,  except  Mr.  Blair,  the  Postmaster-General,  who  was 
absent  at  the  opening  of  the  discussion,  but  came  in  subsequently. 
I  said  to  the  cabinet  that  I  had  resolved  upon  this  step,  and  had 
not  called  them  together  to  ask  their  advice,  but  to  lay  the  subject- 
matter  of  a  proclamation  before  them,  suggestions  as  to  which 
would  be  in  order  after  they  had  heard  it  read. 

"  Various  suggestions  were  offered.  Secretary  Chase  wished 
the  language  stronger  in  reference  to  the  arming  of  the  blacks. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  415 

Mr.  Blair,  after  he  came  in,  deprecated  the  policy,  on  the  ground 
that  it  would  cost  the  Administration  the  fall  elections.  Nothing;, 
however,  was  offered  that  I  had  not  already  fully  anticipated,  and 
settled  in  my  own  mind,  until  Secretary  Seward  spoke.  He  said 
in  substance, — 

"  '  Mr.  President,  I  approve  of  the  proclamation  ;  but  I  question 
the  expediency  of  its  issue  at  this  juncture.  The  depression  of 
the  public  mind,  consequent  upon  our  repeated  reverses,  is  so 
great,  that  I  fear  the  effect  of  so  important  a  step.  It  may  be 
viewed  as  the  last  measure  of  an  exhausted  Government,  —  a  cry 
for  help ;  the  Government  stretching  forth  her  hands  to  Ethiopia, 
instead  of  Ethiopia  stretching  forth  her  hands  to  the  Government.' 

"  His  idea  was,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  that  it  would  be  considered 
our  last  shriek  on  the  retreat.  '  Now,'  continued  Mr.  Seward, 
'while  I  approve  the  measure,  I  suggest,  sir,  that  you  postpone  its 
issue  until  you  can  give  it  to  the  country  supported  by  military 
success,  instead  of  issuing  it,  as  would  be  the  case  now,  upon  the 
greatest  disasters  of  the  war.' 

'^  The  wisdom  of  the  view  of  the  Secretary  of  State  struck  me 
with  great  force.  It  was  an  aspect  of  the  case,  that,  in  all  my 
thought  upon  the  subject,  I  had  entirely  overlooked.  The  result 
was,  that  I  put  the  draught  of  the  proclamation  aside,  waiting  for  a 
victory.  From  time  to  time,  I  added  or  changed  a  line,  touching 
it  up  here  and  there,  anxiously  watching  the  progress  of  events. 
Well,  the  next  news  we  had  was  of  Pope's  disaster  at  Bull  Run. 
Things  looked  darker  than  ever.  Finally  came  the  week  of  the 
battle  at  Antietam.  I  determined  to  wait  no  longer.  The  news 
came,  I  think,  on  Wednesday,  that  the  advantage  was  on  our  side. 
I  was  then  staying  at  the  Soldiers'  Home,  three  miles  out  of  Wash- 
ington. Here  I  finished  writing  the  second  draught  of  the  prelimi- 
nary proclamation;  came  up  on  Saturday;  called  the  cabinet 
together  to  hear  it ;  and  it  was  published  the  following  Monday." 

At  this  final  meeting,  which  took  place  on  the  20th  of  Septem- 
ber, as  Mr.  Lincoln  read  the  words,  "  And  the  Executive  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  including  the  military  and  naval 
authority  thereof,  will  recognize  the  freedom  of  such  persons," 
Mr.  Seward  interrupted  him,  saying, — 

"  I  think,  Mr.  President,  that  you  should  insert  after  the  word 
recognize,  in  that  sentence,  the  words  and  maintain.-^ 

The  President  replied,  that  he  had  already  considered  the  im- 


416  UVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

port  of  that  expression  in  that  connection,  but  that  he  had  refrained 
from  inserting  it,  as  he  did  not  like  to  promise  that  Avhich  he  was 
not  sure  that  he  could  perform.  "But  Mr.  Seward,"  said  the 
President,  "  insisted ;  and  the  words  went  in."  It  so  happened 
that  there  were  just  one  hundred  days  between  the  preliminary 
proclamation  which  was  issued  on  the  22d  of  September,  1862, 
and  the  final  proclamation  which  consummated  the  act  of  eman- 
cipation. 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1863,  the  final  proclamation  was  issued. 
In  his  preamble,  he  alluded  to  his  previous  proclamation  of  prom- 
ise, and  then  said,  "  Now  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President 
of  the  United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  invested  as 
commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States, 
in  time  of  actual  armed  rebellion  against  the  authority  and  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  and  as  a  fit  and  necessary  war-measure 
for  suppressing  said  rebellion,  do,  on  this  first  day  of  January,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three, 
and  in  accordance  with  my  purpose  so  to  do,  publicly  proclaimed 
for  the  full  period  of  one  hundred  days  from  the  day  first  above 
mentioned,  order  and  designate  as  the  States,  and  parts  of  States, 
wherein  the  people  thereof  respectively  are  this  day  in  rebellion 
against  the  United  States,  the  following ;  to  wit." 

Then  follows  a  list  of  the  States  in  rebellion.  "  And  by  virtue 
of  the  power,  and  for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  I  do  orrjer  and 
declare,  that  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  said  designated 
States,  and  parts  of  States^  are,  and  henceforth  shall  be,  free;  and 
that  the  Executive  Government  of  the  United  States,  including  the 
military  and  naval  authorities  thereof,  will  recognize  and  main- 
tain the  freedom  of  said  persons." 

The  proclamation  is  concluded  with  the  following  words : 
"  And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice 
warranted  by  the  Constitution,  upon  military  necessity,  I  invoke 
the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind,  and  the  gracious  favor 
of  Almighty  God." 

Of  this  proclamation  "  The  London  Spectator  "  says,  "  We  cannot 
read  it  without  a  renewed  conviction  that  it  is  the  noblest  politi- 
cal document  known  to  history,  and  should  have  for  the  nation, 
and  the  statesmen  he  left  behind  him,  something  of  a  sacred 
and  almost  prophetic  character.  Surely  none  was  ever  written 
under  a  stronger  sense  of  the  reality  of  God's  government ;  and 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  417 

certainly  none  written  in  a  period  of  passionate  conflict  ever  so 
completely  excluded  the  partiality  of  victorious  faction,  and 
breathed  so  pure  a  strain  of  mingled  justice  and  mercy." 

The  country  abounded  with  spies  and  informers  ;  and,  as  another 
measure  of  military  necessity,  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  sus- 
pended. The  President  issued  a  circular  letter  to  the  army, 
urging  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day,  and  reverence  for  the 
name  of  God.  Sunday  desecration,  and  profanity,  are  ever  two 
great  evils  in  an  army. 

At  one  time,  twenty-four  deserters  were  sentenced  by  court- 
martial  to  be  shot.  Mr.  Lincoln  refused  to  sign  the  warrants  for 
their  execution.  An  officer  said  to  him,  "Mr.  President,  unless 
these  men  are  made  an  example  of,  the  army  itself  is  in  dariger. 
Mercy  to  the  few  is  cruelty  to  the  many."  Mr.  Lincoln  replied, 
"  Mr.  General,  there  are  already  too  many  weeping  widows  in  the 
United  States.  Don't  ask  me  to  add  to  their  number ;  for  I  will 
not  do  it." 

A  petition  was  brought  to  him  to  pardon  a  man  who  had  been 
convicted  of  being  engaged  in  the  slave-trade.  He  read  it 
carefully,  and  then  said  to  the  one  who  brought  the  petition,  — 

''  My  friend,  that  is  a  very  touching  appeal  to  our  feelings.  You 
know  my  weakness  is  to  be,  if  possible,  too  easily  moved  by  ap- 
peals to  mercy.  If  this  man  wer^  guilty  of  the  foulest  murder 
that  the  arm  of  man  could  perpetrate,  I  could  forgive  him  on  such 
an  appeal ;  but  the  man  who  could  go  to  Africa,  and  rob  her  of 
her  children,  and  sell  them  into  interminable  bondage,  with  no 
other  motive  than  that  which  is  furnished  by  dollars  and  cents, 
is  so  much  worse  than  the  most  depraved  murderer,  that  he  can 
never  receive  pardon  at  my  hands." 

A  lady,  the  wife  of  a  captured  rebel  officer,  came  to  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, and  pleaded  tearfully  for  the  release  of  her  husband.  In  her 
plea,  gushing  from  a  woman's  loving  heart,  she  urged  that  her 
husband  was  a  very  religious  man.  Mr.  Lincoln's  feelings  were 
so  moved  by  the  grief  of  the  wife,  that  he  released  the  rebel. 
He,  however,  remarked, — 

"  You  say  that  your  husband  is  a  religious  ma«.  Tell  him  that 
I  say  that  I  am  not  much  of  a  judge  of  religion  ;  but  that,  in  my 
opinion,  the  religion  that  sets  men  to  rebel  and  fight  against 
their  government,  because,  as  they  think,  that  government  does 
not  sufficiently  help  some  men  to  eat  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of 


418  LIVES  OF   THE  PRESIDEXrS. 

other  men's  faces,  is  not  the  sort  of  reh'gion  upon  which  men  can 
get  to  heaven." 

The  fearful  trials  of  his  oflfice  developed  very  rapidly  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's religious  nature.  "  I  have  been  driven,"  he  said,  "  man\ 
times  to  my  knees,  by  the  overwhelming  conviction  that  I  had 
nowhere  else  to  go.  My  own  wisdom,  and  that  of  all  about  me, 
seemed  insufficient  for  that  day.  I  should  be  the  most  presump- 
tuous blockhead  upon  this  footstool,  if  I  for  one  day  thought  that 
I  could  discharge  the  duties  which  have  come  upon  me  since  I 
came  into  this  place,  without  the  aid  and  enlightenment  of  One 
who  is  wiser  and  stronger  than  all  others." 

Mr.  Carpenter,  a  distinguished  artist  who  spent  six  months 
almost  constantly  in  the  society  of  the  President,  says  of  him,  — 

"  Absorbed  in  his  papers,  he  would  become  unconscious  of  my 
presence,  while  I  intently  studied  every  line  and  shade  of  ex- 
pression in  that  furrowed  face.  In  repose,  it  was  the  saddest  face 
I  ever  knew.  There  were  days  when  I  could  scarcely  look  into 
it  without  crying.  During  the  first  week  of  the  battles  of  the 
Wilderness,  he  scarcely  slept  at  all.  Passing  through  the  main 
hall  of  the  domestic  apartment  on  one  of  those  days,  I  met  him, 
clad  in  a  long  morning  wrapper,  pacing  back  and  forth  a  narrow 
passage  leading  to  one  of  the  windows,  his  hands  behind  him, 
great  black  rings  under  his  eyes,  his  head  bent  forward  upon  his 
breast,  — altogether  such  a  picture  of  the  effects  of  sorrow,  care, 
and  anj^iety,  as  would  have  melted  the  hearts  of  the  worst  of  his 
adversaries.  With  a  sorrow  almost  divine,  he,  too,  could  have 
said  of  the  rebellious  States,  '  How  often  would  I  have  gathered 
you  together  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her 
wings,  and  ye  would  not ! '  " 

The  Hon.  Mr.  Colfax  says,  ''  Calling  upon  the  President  one 
morning  in  the  winter  of  1863,  I  found  him  looking  more  than 
usual]}''  pale  and  careworn,  and  inquired  the  reason.  He  replied, 
that  with  the  bad  news  he  had  received  at  a  late  liour  the  pre- 
vious night,  which  had  not  yet  been  communicated  to  the  press, 
he  had  not  closed  his  eyes,  or  breakfasted  ;  and,  wnth  an  expres- 
sion I  shall  n^ever  forget,  he  exclaimed,  '  How  willingly  would  I 
exchange  places  to-day  with  the  soldier  who  sleeps  on  the  ground 
io  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  ! ' " 

Mr.  Frederick  Douglas,  in  the  autumn  of  1864,  visited  Washing- 
ton; and  Mr.  Lincohi,  wishing  to  converse  with  him  upon  some 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  419 

points  on  which  he  desired  the  opinion  and  advice  of  that  very 
remarkable  man,  sent  his  carriage,  and  an  invitation  to  Mr.  Doug- 
las to  "  come  up  and  take  a  cup  of  tea  with  him."  The  invita- 
tion was  accepted.  Probably  never  before  was  a  colored  man  an 
honored  guest  in  the  White  House.  Mr.  Douglas  subsequently 
remarked,  "  Mr  Lincoln  is  one  of  the  few  white  men  I  ever  passed 
an  hour  with,  who  failed  to  remind  me  in  some  way,  before  the 
interview  terminated,  that  I  was  a  negro." 

The  following  is  from  a  correspondent  of  "  The  New- York  In- 
dependent:  "  "  On  New- Year's  Day,  1865,  a  memorable  incident 
occurred,  of  which  the  like  was  never  before  seen  at  the  White 
House.  I  had  noticed  at  sundry  times,  during  the  summer,  the 
wild  fervor  and  strange  enthusiasm  which  our  colored  friends 
always  manifested  over  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  His  name, 
with  them,  seems  to  be  associated  with  that  of  his  namesake,  the 
father  of  the  foithful.  In  the  great  crowds  which  gather  from 
time  to  time  in  front  of  the  White  House  in  honor  of  the  Presi- 
dent, none  shout  so  loudly  or  so  wildly,  and  swing  their  hats  with 
such  utter  abandon,  while  their  eyes  are  beaming  with  the  in- 
tensest  joy,  as  do  these  simple-minded  and  grateful  people.  I 
have  often  laughed  heartily  at  these  exhibitions. 

"  But  the  scene  yesterday  excited  far  other  emotions.  As  I 
entered  the  door  of  the  President's  House,  I  noticed  groups  of 
colored  people  gathered  here  and  there,  who  seemed  to  be 
watching  earnestly  the  inpouring  throng.  For  nearly  two  hours 
they  hung  around,  until  the  crowd  of  white  visitors  began  sensibly 
to  diminish.  Then  they  summoned  courage,  and  began  timidly  to 
approach  the  dooi\  Some  of  them  were  richly  and  gayly  dressed, 
some  were  in  tattered  garments,  and  others  in  the  most  fanciful 
and  grotesque  costumes.  All  pressed  eagerly  forward.  When 
they  came  into  the  presence  of  the  President,  doubting  as  to  their 
reception,  the  feelings  of  the  poor  creatures  overcame  them  ;  and 
here  the  scene  baffles  my  powers  of  description. 

"  For  two  long  hours,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  shaking  the  hands 
of  the  '  sovereigns,'  and  had  become  excessively  Aveary,  and  his 
grasp  languid  ;  but  his  nerves  rallied  at  the  unwonted  sight,  and 
he  welcomed  the  motley  crowd  with  a  heartiness  that  made  them 
wild  with  exceeding  joy.  They  laughed  and  wept,  and  wept  and 
laughed,  exclaiming  tbrongh  their  blinding  tears,  '  God  bless 
you!'    'God   bless  Abraham    Lincoln!'    '.God  bress  Massa  Lin- 


420  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

kum ! '  Those  who  witnessed  this  scene  will  not  soon  forget  it. 
For  a  long  distance  down  the  avenue,  on  my  way  home,  I  heard 
fast  young  men  cursing  the  President  for  this  act ;  but  all:  the  way 
the  refrain  rang  in  my  ears,  '  God  bless  Abraham  Lincoln  ! '  " 

The  telegram  one  day  announced  a  great  battle  in  progress. 
Mr.  Lincoln  paced  the  floor,  pale  and  haggard,  unable  to  eat,  and 
fearfully  apprehensive  of  a  defeat.  A  lady  said  to  him,  "  We 
can  at  least  pray."  —  ''Yes,"  said  he;  and,  taking  his  Bible,  he 
hastened  to  his  room.  The  prayer  he  offered  was  overheard  ;  and, 
in  the  intensity  of  entreaty  and  childlike  faith,  it  was  such  as  sel- 
dom ascends  from  human  lips.  Ere  long,  a  telegram  announced 
a  Union  victory.  He  came  back  to  the  room  he  had  left,  his  face 
beaming  with  joy,  and  said,  "  Good  news,  good  news  !  The  vic- 
tory is  ours,  and  God  is  good  !  "  — ''  There  is  nothing  like  prayer," 
the  lady  responded.  "  Yes,  there  is,"  he  replied  :  "  praise,  prayer, 
and  praise."  It  is  confidently  asserted,  that,  during  the  war,  Mr. 
Lincoln  found  an  hour  every  day  for  prayer. 

There  was  a  peculiarity  in  the  character  of  this  most  remarka- 
ble man,  a  peculiarity  conspicuous  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
which  no  one  yet  has  been  successful  in  satisfactorily  explaining. 
Take  the  following  as  an  illustration  :  — 

A  poor  old  man  from  Tennessee  went  to  Washington  to  plead 
for  the  life  of  his  son.  He  had  no  friends.  Almost  by  chance, 
and  after  much  delay,  he  succeeded  in  working  his  way  to  the 
President  through  the  crowd  of  senators,  governors,  and  generals, 
who  were  impatiently  waiting  for  an  audience.  Mr.  Lincoln 
looked  over  his  papers,  and  told  the  man  that  he  would  give  him 
his  answer  the  next  day.  The  anguish-stricken  father  looked  up 
with  swimming  eyes,  and  said,  "  To-morrow  may  be  too  late  ! 
My  son  is  under  sentence  of  death  1  The  decision  ought  to  be 
made  now !  " 

"Wait  a  bit,"  said  the  President,  "and  I  will  tell  you  a  story. 
Col.  Fisk,  of  Missouri,  raised  a  regiment,  and  made  every  man 
agree  that  the  colonel  should  do  all  the  swearing  of  the  regiment. 
One  of  his  teamsters,  John  Todd,  in  driving  a  mule-team  over  a 
boggy  road,  completely  lost  his  patience,  and  burst  into  a  volley 
of  oaths.  The  colonel  called  him  to  account.  *  John,'  said  he, 
'  did  you  not  promise  to  let  me  do  all  the  swearing  of  the  regi- 
ment ? '  —  '  Yes,  I  did,  colonel,'  he  replied  :  '  but  the  fact  was,  the 
swearing  had  to  be  done  then, or  not  at  all;  and  you  weren't  there 
to  do  it.' " 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  421 

The  President  laughed  at  this  story  most  heartily ;  and  even 
the  old  man  joined  him  in  the  laugh.  He  then,  in  a  few  words, 
wrote  a  pardon  for  the  boy,  and  handed  it  to  the  father. 

Perhaps  the  most  sublime  and  momentous  moment  of  his  life 
was  when  he  presented  to  his  cabinet  his  proclamation,  which 
was  to  deliver  from  bondage  nearly  four  millions  of  human  beings 
then  living,  and  to  rescue  from  that  doom  uncounted  millions  yet 
unborn.  He  had  prepared  it  without  consultation  with  others, 
and  no  one  knew  the  object  of  the  meeting.  When  all  these 
grave  and  distinguished  men,  pressed  in  body,  mind,  and  heart 
with  the  burden  of  the  war,  had  met  in  the  President's  cabinet, 
Mr.  Lincoln  prepared  himself  to  present  the  proclamation  to  them 
by  taking  down  from  the  shelf  "Artemas  Ward  his  Book,"  and 
reading  an  entire  chapter  of  his  frivolous  drollery,  laughing  in 
the  mean  time  with  an  abandon  of  mirth,  as  if  he  had  never 
cherished  a  serious  thought. 

Then,  with  his  whole  tone  and  manner  suddenly  changed, 
with  an  expression  of  countenance  and  a  modulation  of  voice 
which  indicated,  that,  in  every  fibre  of  his  soul,  he  appreciated  the 
grandeur  of  the  occasion,  he  read  that  immortal  document,  which, 
as  he  afterwards  said,  was  the  greatest  event  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

In  one  of  the  darkest  hours  of  the  war,  a  member  of  his  cabi- 
net called  upon  him  to  confer  respecting  some  weighty  matters. 
The  President  commenced  relating  a  ludicrous  anecdote.  "Please, 
Mr.  President,"  said  the  secretary  remonstratingly,  "  I  did  not 
come  here  this  morning  to  hear  stories.  It  is  too  serious  a  time." 
The  President  paused  for  a  moment,  and  then  said,  "  Sit  down, 
sir.  I  respect  your  feelings.  You  cannot  be  more  anxious  than 
I  am  constantly.  And  I  say  to  you  now,  that,  if  it  were  not  for 
this  occasional  vent,  I  should  die  !  " 

Mr.  Lincoln's  literary  taste  was  of  a  high  order.  No  man  more 
correctly  appreciated  poetic  beauty.  The  most  delicate  shades 
of  thought,  and  the  purest  sentiments,  were  those  for  which  his 
mind  had  an  intuitive  affinity.  His  memory  was  stored  with 
beautiful  fragments  of  verse,  and  these  were  invariably  of  the 
highest  literary  and  moral  excellence. 

"  There  are,"  said  he  on  one  occasion,  "  some  quaint,  queer 
verses,  written,  I  think,  by  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  entitled  '  The 
Last  Leaf,'  one  of  which  is  to  me  inexpressibly  touching."  He 
then  repeated,  — 


422  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"  The  mossy  marbles  rest 
On  the  lips  that  he  has  pressed 

In  their  bloom ; 
And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear 
Have  been  carved  for  many  a  year 

On  the  tomb." 

He  then  added,  "For  pure  pathos,  in  my  judgment,  there  is 
nothing  finer  than  these  six  lines  in  the  English  language."  On 
another  occasion  he  said,  '•'  There  is  a  poem  that  has  been  a  great 
favorite  with  me  for  years,  to  which  my  attention  was  first  called, 
when  a  young  man,  by  a  friend,  and  which  I  afterwards  saw,  aud 
cut  from  a  newspaper,  and  carried  it  in  my  pocket,  till,  by  fre- 
quent reading,  I  had  it  by  heart."  He  then  repeated  eleven  verses 
of  a  poem  of  which  we  here  give  the  first  and  last  stanzas :  — 

"  Oh !  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud  ? 
Like  a  swift-fleeting  meteor,  a  fast-flying  cloud, 
A  flash  of  the  lightning,  a  break  of  the  wave, 
He  passeth  from  life  to  the  rest  of  the  grave. 

'Tis  the  wink  of  an  eye,  'tis  the  draught  of  a  breath, 
From  the  blossom  of  health  to  the  paleness  of  death. 
From  the  gilded  saloon  to  the  bier  and  the  shroud  : 
Oh !  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud  ?  " 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  very  remarkable  for  his  fund  of  anecdote.  He 
always  had  his  little  story  with  which  to  illustrate  any  point;  and 
the  illustration  was  often  found  to  contain  resistless  argument.  It 
has  been  said  that  his  stories  were  sometimes  coarse.  Upon  this 
point,  Mr.  Carpenter  says,  after  six  months  of  the  most  intimate 
daily  acquaintance,  — 

"  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  am  convinced,  has  been  greatly  wronged  in  this 
respect.  Every  foul-mouthed  man  in  the  country  gave  currency 
to  the  slime  and  filth  of  his  own  imagination  by  attributing  it 
to  the  President.  It  is  but  simple  justice  to  his  memory  that  I 
should  state,  that,  during  the  entire  period  of  my  stay  in  Wash- 
ington, after  witnessing  his  intercourse  with  nearly  all  classes  of 
men,  embracing  governors,  senators,  and  members  of  Congress, 
officers  of  the  army,  and  intimate  friends,  I  cannot  recollect  to 
have  heard  him  relate  a  circumstance  to  any  one  of  them  which 
would  have  been  out  of  place  uttered  in  a  lady's  drawing-room. 

'•'And  this  testimony  is  not  unsupported  by  that  of  others,  well 
entitled  to  consideration.     Dr.  Stone,  his  family  physician,  came 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  423 

in  one  day  to  see  my  studies.  Sitting  in  front  of  that  of  the 
President,  with  whom  he  did  not  sympathize  poHtically,  he  re- 
marked with  much  feeling,  '  It  is  the  province  of  a  physician  to 
probe  deeply  the  interior  lives  of  men  ;  and  1  aflSrm  that  Mr.  Lin- 
coln is  the  purest-hearted  man  with  whom  I  ever  came  in  contact.' 
Secretary  Seward,  who  of  the  cabinet  officers  was  probably  the 
most  intimate  with  the  President,  expressed  the  same  sentiment 
in  still  stronger  language.  He  once  said  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows, 
*  Mr.  Lincoln  is  the  best  man  I  ever  knew.'  " 

The  tact  which  the  President  displayed  in  all  his  responses  to 
the  various  kindnesses  he  received  excited  universal  admiration. 
On  such  occasions,  his  awkwardness  seemed  graceful,  and  his  plain 
face  beautiful.  As  the  President  entered  one  of  the  rooms  of  the 
White  House  on  an  occasion  Avhen  many  visitors  were  present,  a 
lady  stepped  forward  playfully  with  a  beautiful  bunch  of  flowers, 
and  said,  ''  Allow  me,  Mr,  President,  to  present  you  with  a 
bouquet."  He  took  the  flowers,  for  a  moment  looked  admiringly 
on  their  beauty,  and  then,  fixing  his  eyes  upon  the  countenance  of 
the  lady,  which  was  also  radiant  with  loveliness,  said,  "  Really, 
madam,  if  you  give  them  to  me,  and  they  are  mine,  I  think  I  can- 
not possibly  make  so  good  a  use  of  them  as  to  present  them  to 
you  in  return." 

Upon  the  betrothal  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  the  Princess 
Alexandrina,  Queen  Victoria  sent  a  letter  to  each  of  the  European 
sovereigns,  and  also  to  President  Lincoln,  announcing  the  fact. 
Lord  Lyons,  the  British  ambassador  at  Washington,  who  was  an 
unmarried  man,  sought  an  audience  with  the  President,  that  he 
might  communicate  this  important  intelligence.  With  much  for- 
mality, he  presented  himself  at  the  White  House,  accompanied  by 
Secretary  Seward. 

"  May  it  please  your  Excellency,"  said  the  noble  lord,  ''  I  hold 
in  my  hand  an  autograph-letter  from  my  royal  mistress,  Queen 
Victoria,  which  I  have  been  commanded  to  present  to  your 
Excellency.  \n  it  she  informs  your  Excellency,  that  her  son,  his 
Royal  Highness  the  Prince  of  Wales,  is  about  to  contract  a 
matrimonial  alliance  with  her  Royal  Highness  the  Princess  Alex- 
andrina of  Denmark." 

After  continuing  in  this  style  of  stately  address  for  some 
moments,  he  placed  the  letter  in  the  hands  of  the  President.     Mr. 


424  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Lincoln  took  it,  and,  with  a  peculiar  twinkle  of  the  eye,  simply 
responded,  "  Lord  Lyons,  go  tliou  and  do  likewise." 

Mr.  Carpenter,  in  narrating  this  incident,  adds,  "  It  is  doubtful 
if  an  English  ambassador  was  ever  addressed  in  this  manner 
before  ;  and  it  would  be  interesting  to  learn  what  success  he  met 
with  in  putting  the  reply  in  diplomatic  language,  when  he  reported 
it  to  her  Majesty." 

In  conversation  at  the  White  House,  a  gentleman  referred  to 
a  body  of  water  in  Nebraska,  which  was  called  by  an  Indian  name 
signifying  weeping  water.  Mr.  Lincoln  instantly  replied,  '•'  As 
Zawf/Am^  ^ya^er,  according  to  Longfellow,  is  Minnehaha,  tliis,  evi- 
dently, should  be  Minneboohoo." 

A  gentleman  who  had  called  upon  the  President,  in  the  course  of 
conversation  inquired  of  him  how  many  men  the  rebels  had  in  the 
field.  Promptly  and  very  decidedly  he  replied,  "  Twelve  hundred 
thousand."  The  interrogator,  in  amazement,  exclaimed,  "Twelve 
hundred  thousand!  is  it  possible?"  — "  Yes,  sir,"  the  President 
replied;  "twelve  hundred  thousand:  there  is  no  doubt  of  it.  'You 
see,  all  of  our  generals,  when  they  get  whipped,  say  the  enemy 
outnumbers  them  from  three  or  five  to  one.  I  must  believe  them. 
We  have  four  hundred  thousand  men  in  the  field.  Three  times 
four  make  twelve.     Don't  you  see  it?" 

Some  gentlemen  from  the  West  called  one  day,  with  bitter 
complaints  against  the  Administration.  The  President,  as  was  his 
wont,  listened  to  them  patiently,  and  then  replied,  — 

"  Gentlemen,  suppose  all  the  property  you  were  worth  was  in 
gold,  and  you  had  put  it  into  the  hands  of  Blondin  to  carry 
across  the  Niagara  River  on  a  rope,  would  you  shake  the  cable,  or 
keep  shouting  out  to  him,  '  Blondin,  stand  iip  a  little  straighter  ; 
Blondin,  stoop  a  little  more  ;  go  a  little  faster ;  lean  a  little  more 
to  the  north  ;  lean  a  little  more  to  the  south  '  ?  No  :  you  would 
hold  your  breath  as  well  as  your  tongue,  and  keep  your  hands  off 
until  he  was  safe  over.  The  Government  are  carrying  an  immense 
weight.  Untold  treasures  are  in  their  hands.  They  are  doing 
the  very  best  they  can.  Don't  badger  them.  Keep  silence,  and 
we'll  get  you  safe  across." 

"  I  hope,"  said  a  clergyman  to  him  one  day,  "  that  the  Lord  is 
on  our  side."  —  "I  am  not  at  all  concerned  about  that,"  was  Mr. 
Lincoln's  reply ;  "  for  I  know  that  the  Lord  is  always  on  the  side 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  425 

of  the  right.  But  it  is  my  constant  anxiety  and  prayer  tliat/and 
this  nation  should  be  on  the  Lord's  side." 

As  the  rebel  confederacy  was  crumbling  into  ruins,  some  gen- 
tlemen asked  Mr.  Lincoln  what  he  intended  to  do  with  Jeff.  Davis. 
"There  was  a  boy,"  said  he,  "in  Springfield,  who  bought  a  coon, 
which,  after  the  novelty  wore  off,  became  a  great  nuisance.  He 
was  one  day  leading  him  through  the  streets,  and  had  his 
hands  full  to  keep  clear  of  the  little  vixen,  who  had  torn  his  clothes 
half  off  of  him.  At  length  he  sat  down  on  the  curbstone,  com- 
pletely fagged  out.  A  man,  passing,  was  stopped  bj'  the  lad's 
disconsolate  appearance,  and  asked  the  matter.  '  Oh,'  was 
the  reply,  'the  coon  is  such  a  troul)]e  to  me!'  —  'Why  don't 
you  get  rid  of  it,  then  ?  '  eaid  the  gentleman.  '  Hush  ! '  said  the 
boy.  '■  Don't  you  see  that  he  is  gnawing  his  rope  off?  I  am  going 
to  let  him  do  it ;  and  then  I  will  go  home,  and  tell  the  folks  that  he 
(jot  atcay  from  me.'  " 

On  the  Monday  before  his  assassination,  the  President,  on  his 
return  from  Richmond,  stopped  at  City  Point.  There  were  very 
extensive  hospitals  there,  filled  with  sick  and  wonuded  soldiers. 
Mr.  Lincoln  told  the  head  surgeon  that  he  wished  to  visit  all 
the  hospitals,  that  he  might  shake  hands  with  every  soldier.  The 
surgeon  endeavored  to  dissuade  him,  saying  that  there  were 
between  five  and  six  thousand  patients  in  the  liospitals,  and  that 
he  would  find  it  a  severe  tax  upon  his  strength  to  visit  all  the 
wards.     But  Mr.  Lincoln  persisted,  saying,  — 

"  I  think  that  I  am  equal  to  the  task.  At  any  rate,  I  will  try, 
and  go  as  far  as  I  can.  I  shall  probably  never  see  the  boys  again, 
and  I  want  them  to  know  that  I  appreciate  what  they  have  done 
for  their  country." 

The  surgeon,  finding  tliat  he  could  not  dissuade  Mr.  Lincoln, 
began  his  rounds,  accompanying  the  President  from  bed  to  bed. 
To  every  man  he  extended  his  hand,  and  spoke  a  few  words  of 
sympathy.  As  he  passed  along,  welcomed  by  all  with  heartfelt 
cordiality,  he  came  to  a  ward  where  there  was  a  wounded  rebel. 
The  unhappy  man  raised  himself  upon  his  elbow  in  bed  as  the 
President  approached,  and,  with  tears  running  down  his  cheeks, 
said,  "  Mr.  Lincoln,  I  have  long  wanted  to  see  you  to  ask  your  for- 
giveness for  ever  raising  my  hand  against  the  old  flag." 

Tears  filled  the  President's  eyes.  Warmly  he  shook  the  young 
man's  hand,  assuring  him  of  his  good  will  and  heartfelt  symp.ithy. 

54 


426  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Several  hours  were  occupied  in  the  tour,  wiien  the  President 
returned  with  the  surgeon  to  his  office.  They  had,  however,  but 
just  taken  their  seats,  when  a  messenger  came,  saying  that  one 
of  the  wards  had  been  missed,  and  that  "  the  boys  "  were  very  anx- 
ious to  see  the  President.  The  surgeon,  who  was  quite  tired  out, 
and  who  knew  that  Mr.  Lincoln  must  be  greatly  exhausted,  en- 
deavored to  dissuade  him  from  going  back ;  but  Mr.  Lincoln 
persisted,  saying,  ''  The  boys  will  be  so  disappointed  !  "  He  there- 
fore went  with  the  messenger,  and  did  not  return  until  he  had 
visited  every  bed. 

Mr.  Lincoln  retained  at  the  White  House,  to  a  very  remarkable 
degree,  the  simple  habits  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed  in  his 
home  in  Illinois.  Mr.  Holland  relates  tHe  following  characteristic 
anecdote : — 

''He  delighted  to  see  his  familiar  Western  friends,  and  gave 
them  always  a  cordial  welcome.  He  met  them  on  the  old  footing, 
and  fell  at  once  into  the  accustomed  habits  of  talk  and  story-tell- 
ing. An  old  acquaintance,  with  his  wife,  visited  Washington. 
Mr.  and  Mi-s.  Lincoln  proposed  to  these  friends  to  ride  in  the 
presidential  carriage.  It  should  be  stated  in  advance,  that  the 
two  men  had  probably  never  seen  each  other  with  gloves  on  in 
their  lives,  unless  when  they  were  used  as  protection  from  the 
cold.  The  question  of  each  —  Mr.  Lincoln  at  the  White  House, 
and  his  friend  at  the  hotel  —  was,  whether  he  should  wear  gloves. 
Of  course,  the  ladies  urged  gloves  ;  but  Mr.  Lincoln  only  put  his 
in  his  pocket,  to  be  used  or  not  according  to  circumstances. 
When  the  presidential  party  arrived  at  the  hotel  to  take  in  their 
friends,  they  found  the  gentleman,  overcome  by  his  wife's  persua- 
sions, very  handsomely  gloved.  The  moment  he  took  his  seat,  he 
began  to  draw  off  the  clinging  kids,  while  Mr.  Lincoln  b'egan  to 
draw  his  on.  *  No,  no,  no  ! '  protested  his  friend,  tugging  at  his 
gloves,  'it  is  none  of  my  doings.  Put  up  your  gloves,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln.' So  the  two  old  friends  were  on  even  and  eas}'  terms,  and 
had  their  ride  after  their  old  fashion." 

The  Hon.  Thaddeus  Stevens,  on  one  occasion,  called  at  the 
White  House  with  an  elderly  lady  who  was  in  great  trouble. 
Her  son  had  been  in  the  army,  but  for  some  offence  had  been 
court-martialled,  and  sentenced  either  to  death,  or  imprisonment 
for  a  long  term  at  hard  labor.  There  were  some  extenuating  cir- 
cumstances.    The  President  gave  the  woman  a  long  and  attentive 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  427 

hearing,  and  then,  turning  to  the  representaiive,  said,  "  Do  you 
think,"  Mr.  Stevens,  "  that  this  is  a  case  which  will  warrant  my  in- 
terference ?  "  —  "  With  my  knowledge  of  the  farts  and  parties,'- 
was  the  reply,  ''  I  should  have  no  hesitation  in  granting  a  par- 
don." —  "  Then,"  replied  Mr.  Lincoln,  "  I  will  pardon  him."  Turn- 
ing to  the  table,  he  wrote  the  pardon,  and  handed  it  to  the  mother. 
Her  gratitude  so  overcame  her,  that  for  a  moment  she  was  speech- 
less, taking  the  paper  in  silence  ;  but,  as  she  was  descending  the 
stairs  with  Mr.  Stevens,  she  turned  to  him,  and  said  very  earnest- 
ly, "  I  knew  it  was  all  a  copperhead  lie."  — ''  To  what  do  you  refer, 
madam?"  Mr.  Stevens  inquired.  "  Why,  they  told  me,"  she  re- 
plied, "  that  he  was  an  ugly-looking  man  ;  but  he  is  the  hamlsomest 
man  I  ever  saw  in  my  life." 

And  surely  there  was  beauty  in  that  furrowed,  care-worn,  gen- 
tle face.  A  lady  connected  with  the  Christian  Commission  iiad 
several  interviews  with  him,  consulting  liim  in  reference  to  her 
humane  duties.  At  the  close  of  one  of  these  interviews,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln said  to  her,  with  that  child-like  frankness  and  simplicity  so 
characteristic  of  him,  — 

''  Madam,  I  have  formed  a  high  opinion  of  your  Christian 
character;  and  now,  as  we  are  alone,  I  have  a  mind  to  ask  yhw 
to  give  me,  in  brief,  your  idea  of  what  constitutes  a  true  Chris- 
tian." 

•  She  replied  at  some  length,  stating  in  substance,  that,  in  her 
judgment,  "  it  consisted  of  a  conviction  of  one's  own  sinfulness 
and  weakness,  and  personal  need 'of  a  Saviour  for  strength  and 
support;  that  views  of  mere  doctrine  might  and  would  differ;  but 
when  one  was  really  brought  to  feel  his  need  of  divine  help,  and 
to  seek  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for  strength  and  guidance,  it 
was  satisfactory  evidence  of  his  having  been  born  again." 

With  deep  emotion,  he  replied,  "  If  what  you  have  told  me  is 
really  a  correct  view  of  this  great  subject,  I  think  that  I  can  say 
with  sincerity,  that  I  hope  that  I  am  a  Christian.  1  had  lived,  until 
my  boy  Willie  died,  without  realizing  fully  these  things.  Tliat 
blow  overwhelmed  me.  It  showed  me  my  weakness  as  I  had  nwer 
felt  it  before  ;  and,  if  I  can  take  what  you  have  stated  as  a  test,  I 
think  that  I  can  safely  say  that  I  know  something  of  that  change 
of  which  you  speak  :  and  I  will  further  add,  that  it  has  been  my 
intention  for  some  time,  at  a  suitable  opportunity,  to  make  a  pub- 
lic religious  profession." 


428  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

"  Oh,  how  hard  it  is,"  said  he  one  day,  "  to  die,  and  not  leave  the 
world  any  better  for  one's  little  life  in  it !  " 

Four  years  of  civil  war  passed  slowly  and  sadly  away.  There 
was  another  presidential  election.  Those  who  were  opposed  to 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  war  rallied  in  great  strength  ,*  but  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  triumphantly  re-elected,  receiving  two  hundred  and 
twelve  out  of  two  hundred  and  thirty -three  electoral  votes.  The 
evening  of  his  election,  he  said,  in  reference  to  this  emphatic 
'  approval  of  his  administration  by  the  people,  —  « 

"  I  am  thankful  to  God  for  this  approval  of  the  people  ;  but 
while  deeply  grateful  for  this  mark  of  their  confidence  in  me,  if  I 
know  my  heart,  my  gratitude  is  free  from  any  taint  of  personal 
triumph.  I  do  not  impugn  the  motives  of  any  one  opposed  to  me. 
It  is  no  pleasure  to  me  to  triumph  over  any  one ;  but  I  give 
thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  this  evidence  of  the  people's  resolu- 
tion to  stand  by  a  free  government  and  the  rights  of  humanity." 

The  last  hope  of  the  rebels  was  now  gone.  It  was  manifest 
beyond  all  controversy  that  the  American  people  would  not  sub- 
mit to  have  their  government  broken  up  by  traitors.  Again  he 
said,  in  response  to  a  delegation  which  waited  upon  him  with  con- 
gratulations, speaking  of  the  election, — 

"  It  has  demonstrated  that  a  people's  government  can  sustain  a 
national  election  in  the  midst  of  a  great  civil  war.  Until  now,  it 
has  not  been  known  to  the  world  that  this  was  a  possibility.  It 
s!i()\vs  also  how  strong  and  sound  we  still  are.  It  shows  also  that 
we  have  more  men  now  than  when  the  war  began.  Gold  is  good 
in  its  place  ;  but  living,  brave,  and  patriotic  men  are  better  than 
gold." 

Every  month  now  indicated  that  the  Eebellion  was  drawing  near 
to  its  close.  The  triumphs  of  Grant,  Sherman,  and  Sheridan,  were 
striking  the  hearts  of  the  rebels  with  dismay,  and  inspiring  all 
loyal  hearts  with  hope.  The  National  Government  had,  in  the 
field,  armies  amounting  to  over  seven  hundred  thousand  men ; 
and  six  hundred  and  seventy  vessels  of  war  were  afloat,  carrying 
four  thousand  six  hundred  and  ten  guns.  At  President  Lincoln's 
suggestion,  Congress  passed  an  act  recommending  to  the  States  an 
amendment  to  the  Constitution,  prohibiting  slavery.  This  event 
was  generally  hailed  by  the  country  with  great  satisfaction.  This 
settled  forever  the  efficacy  of  his  proclamation  of  emancipation. 
Friends  and  foes  now  alike  admitted  the  great  ability  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 


ABBAHAM  LINCOLN.  429 

An  immense  and  enthusiastic  crowd  attended  his  second  inau- 
guration. His  address  on  the  occasion,  characteristic  of  the  man, 
was  one  of  the  noblest  utterances  which  ever  fell  from  the  lips  of 
a  ruler  when  entering  upon  office.  In  allusion  to  the  parties 
arrayed  against  each  other  in  the  war,  he  said, — 

"  Both  read  the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same  God ;  and  each 
invokes  his  aid  against  the  other.  It  may  seem  strange  that  any 
men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  their 
bread  from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces  ;  but  let  us  judge  not, 
that  we  be  not  judged.  The  prayers  of  both  could  not  be  answered. 
That  of  neither  has  been  answered  fully.  The  Almighty  has 
his  own  purposes.  '  Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  offences  ! 
For  it  must  needs  be  that  offences  come  ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by 
whom  the  offence  cometh  !  ' 

"  If  we  shall  supjDose  that  American  slavery  is  one  of  those 
offences,  which,  in  the  providence  of  God,  must  needs  come,  but 
w?iich,  having  continued  through  his  appointed  time,  he  now  wills 
to  remove,  and  that  he  gives  to  both  North  and  South  this  terri- 
ble war  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offence  came, 
shall  we  discern  therein  any  departure  from  those  divine  attri- 
butes which  the  believers  in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  him? 
Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge 
of  war  may  soon  pass  away.  Yet  if  God  wills  that  it  continue 
until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondmen's  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop 
of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  with  another  drawn 
with  the  sword,  —  as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still 
it  must  be  said,  *  The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and 
righteous  altogether.' 

"  With  malice  towards  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness 
in  the  right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to 
finish  the  work  we  are  in  ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds  ;  to  care 
for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and 
orphans ;  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  a 
lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations." 

On  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  April,  1865,  it  was  announced  by 
telegraph  that  the  Union  army  had  entered  Richmond ;  that  Lee 
was  in  full  retreat,  pursued  by  Grant;  and  that  President  Lincoln 
had  gone  to  the  front.  No  pen  can  describe  the  joy  with  which 
these  tidings  were  received.      The  war  was  over;  slavery  was 


430  UVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

dead;  and  the  Union,  cemented  in  freedom,  was  stj-onger  tlian 
ever  before.  Contrary  to  his  own  estimate  of  himself,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  one  of  the  most  courageous  of  men.  Ha  went  directly 
into  the  rebel  capital,  which  was  then  swarming  with  rebels. 
Without  any  guard  but  the  sailors  who  had  rowed  him  a  mile  up 
the  river  in  a  boat  from  the  man-ofwar  in  which  he  ascended  the 
stream,  he  entered  the  thronged  and  tumultuous  city,  which  was 
then  enveloped  in  flames,  the  torch  having  been  applied  by  the 
retreating  foe.  He  was  on  foot,  leading  his  little  boy  "  Tad  "  by 
the  hand. 

The  rumor  of  his  presence  soon  spread  through  the  city.  The 
blacks  crowded  around  him,  shouting,  singing,  laughing,  praying, 
and  with  all  other  demonstrations  of  the  wildest  joy.  A  poor 
woman  stood  in  the  door-way  of  her  hut,  quivering  with  emotion, 
exclaiming,  as  a  flood  of  tears  ran  down  her  cheeks,  "  1  thank  you, 
dear  Jesus,  that  I  behold  President  Linkum."  Others  seemed 
convulsed  with  joy  as  they  cried  out,  "  Bless  de  Lord  !  bless  de 
Lord  !  "  At  last  the  road  became  so  choked  with  the  multitude, 
that  it  was  necessary  to  send  soldiers  to  clear  the  way. 

After  visiting  the  headquarters  of  Gen.  Weitzel,  and  taking  a 
drive  round  the  city,  the  President  returned  to  City  Point,  and 
again  soon  after  revisited  Richmond  with  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  Vice- 
President  Johnson.  On  this  occasion,  he  had  an  interview  with 
some  of  the  prominent  citizens,  by  whom  he  afterwards  felt  that 
he  had  been  deceived,  and  his  confidence  betrayed.  From  this 
trip  he  returned  to  "Washington,  to  consecrate  his  energies  to 
the  reconstruction  of  the  nation  after  these  fearful  shocks  of 
war. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  very  frank  man.  He  did  nothing  by  guile. 
No  one  was  left  in  doubt  in  respect  to  his  views.  The  great 
question  of  reconstruction  now  engrossed  every  thinking  mind. 
In  a  letter  to  Gen.  Wadsworth,  he  had  written,  — 

"  You  desire  to  know,  in  the  event  of  our  complete  success  in 
the  field,  the  same  being  followed  by  loyal  and  cheerful  submission 
on  the  part  of  the  South,  if  universal  amnesty  should  not  be  accom- 
panied with  universal  suffrage.  Since  you  know  my  private  in- 
clination as  to  what  terms  should  be  granted  to  the  South  in  the 
contingency  mentioned,  I  will  here  add,  that  should  our  success 
thus  be  realized,  followed  by  such  desired  results,  I  cannot  see, 
if  universal  amnesty  is  granted,  how,  under  the  circumstances,  I 


Ik— 


^1 

m 


n 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  431 

can  avoid  exacting,  in  return,  universal  suflfrage,  or  at  least  suf- 
frage on  the  basis  of  intelligence  and  military  service." 

We  have  spoken  of  the  attempts  which  were  made  to  assassi- 
nate President  Lincoln  before  his  inauguration.  His  life  was  con- 
stantly threatened.  His  friends  urged  him  to  practise  caution  ; 
but  this  was  so  contraiy  to  liis  nature,  that  he  could  not  be  per- 
suaded to  do  so.  He  walked  the  streets  of  Washington  unat- 
tended, and  as  freely  as  any  other  citizen. 

On  the  14th  of  April,  Gen.  Grant  was  in  the  city;  and  the  man- 
ager of  Ford's  Theatre  invited  the  President  and  the  General  to 
witness  on  his  boards  the  representation,  that  evening,  of  "  Our 
American  Cousin."  To  assist  in  drawing  a  crowd,  it  was  announced 
in  the  play-bills  that  they  would  both  be  present.  Gen.  Grant 
left  the  city.  President  Lincoln,  feeling,  with  his  characteristic 
kindliness  of  heart,  that  it  would  be  a  disappointment  if  he  should 
fail  them,  very  reluctantly  consented  to  go.  With  his  wife  and 
two  friends,  he  reached  the  theatre  a  little  before  nine  o'clock ;  and 
they  took  their  seats  in  a  private  box  reserved  for  them.  The 
house  was  full  in  every  part;  and  the  whole  audience  rose  as  the 
President  entered,  and  he  was  greeted  with  the  greatest  enthu- 
siasm. 

As  the  President,  having  taken  his  seat,  was  apparently  listen- 
ing with  great  interest  to  the  play,  a  play-actor  by  the  name  of 
John  Wilkes  Booth  worked  his  way  through  the  crowd,  in  the 
rear  of  the  dress-circle,  and,  reaching  the  dobr  of  the  box  where 
the  President  was  seated,  presented  a  pistol  within  a  few  inches 
of  his  head,  and  fired  a  bullet  into  his  brain.  Mr.  Lincoln,  reclin- 
ing in  his  chair,  instantly  lost  all  consciousness,  and  did  not  move. 
The  assassin,  brandishing  a  dagger,  leaped  upon  the  stage,  and 
shouting  theatrically,  ^' Sic  semper  ti/rannis ! "  rushed  across  it  in 
the  terrible  confusion  which  ensued,  mounted  a  fleet  horse  at  the 
door,  and  escaped. 

The  helpless  form  of  the  President,  bleeding  and  unconscious, 
\vas  borne  across  the  street  to  a  private  house.  A  surgical  exami- 
nation showed  that  the  wound  was  mortal.  It  was  a  sad  scene. 
Upon  pillows  drenched  with  blood  lay  the  President,  senseless  and 
dying,  his  brains  oozing  from  his  wound.  The  leading  men  of 
the  Government  had  speedily  gathered,  overwhelmed  with  grief. 
Staunton  and  Welles  and  Sumner  and  M'Culloch  were  there  ;  and 
tears  flooded  the  eyes  of  these  strong  men,  while  audible  sobs  burst 


432 


LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


iVom  tlieir  lips.  Senator  Sumner  tenderly  held  the  hand  of  the 
fcufFcrer,  and  wept  with  nncontrollable  emotion.  At  twenty-two 
minutes  past  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  President  Lincoln, 
without  recovering  consciousness,  breathed  his  last. 


ASSASSINATION  OF  ARRAIIAM   I.INCOLN. 


It  was  a  widespread  conspiracy  for  the  death  of  the  leading  offi- 
cers of  the  Government  and  of  the  army.  The  President,  Vice- 
President  Johnson,  Secretary  Seward,  Gen.  Grant,  and  others, 
were  marked  for  destruction.  When  Booth  was  creeping  around 
the  dress-circle  of  the  theatre  with  his  pistol,  another  of  the  assas- 
sins, by  the  name  of  Powell,  entered  the  sick-chamber  of  Secretary 
Seward,  where  the  illustrious  minister  was  helpless  on  a  bed  of 
sLififerlug,  his  jaw  being  broken,  and  he  being  otherwise  severely' 
injured,  by  the  accidental  overturn  of  his  carriage.  The  mur- 
derer, a  man  of  herculean  frame  and  strength,  reached  the  cham- 
ber-door of  his  victim  by  asserting  that  he  came  with  medicine 
from  the  physician.  With  the  butt  of  his  pistol  he  knocked  down 
and  stunned  Mr.  Frederic  Seward,  the  son  of  the  Secretary,  who 
endeavored  to  arrest  his  entrance.     Then  leaping  ujoon  the  bed, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  433 

With  sinewy  arm,  three  times  he  plunged  his  dagger  into  tlie 
throat  and  neck  of  Mr.  Seward.  The  wounded  man,  in  the  strug- 
gle, rolled  from  his  bed  upon  the  floor.  An  attendant  sprang  upon 
the  assassin ;  but  the  wretch  with  his  dagger  cut  himself  loose, 
and  escaped  into  the  street,  after  stabbing  five  persons  who  at- 
tempted to  arrest  him  in  his  escape.  A  kind  Providence,  in 
various  ways,  sheltered  the  others  who  were  marked  for  de- 
struction. 

It  was  not  deemed  safe  to  inform  Mr.  Seward,  in  his  perilous 
condition,  of  the  assassination  of  the  President,  as  it  was  feared 
that  the  shock  would  be  greater  than  he  could  bear.  Sunday 
morning,  however,  he  had  his  bed  wheeled  round,  so  that  he 
could  see  the  tops  of  the  trees  in  the  park  opposite  his  chamber. 
His  eye  caught  sight  of  the  stars  and  stripes  at  half-mast  over  the 
building  of  the  War  Department.  For  a  moment  he  gazed  upon  the 
flag  in  silence,  and  then,  turning  to  his  attendant,  said,  "  The  Presi- 
dent is  dead  !  "  The  attendant,  much  embarrassed,  stammered  a 
reply.  "  If  he  had  been  alive,"  continued  the  Secretary,  "  he 
would  have  been  the  first  to  call  upon  me.  But  he  has  not  been 
here,  nor  has  he  sent  to  know  how  I  am ;  and  there  is  the  flag  at 
half-mast !  "     As  he  said  this,  tears  rolled  down  his  cheeks. 

Never  before,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  was  a  nation  plunged 
into  such  deep  grief  by  the  death  of  its  ruler.  Abraham  Lincoln 
had  won  the  affections  of  all  patriot  hearts.  Strong  men  met  in 
the  streets,  and  wept  in  speechless  anguish.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  a  nation  was  in  tears.  As  the  awful  tidings  flew 
along  the  wires,  funeral-bells  were  tolled  in  city  and  in  country, 
flags  everywhere  were  at  half-mast,  and  groups  gathered  in 
silent  consternation.  It  was  Saturday  morning  when  the  murder 
was  announced.  On  Sunday,  all  the  churches  were  draped  in 
mourning.  The  atrocious  act  was  the  legitimate  result  of  the  vile 
Rebellion,  and  was  in  character  with  its  developed  ferocity  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end. 

;  The  grief  of  the  colored  people  was  sublime  in  its  universality 
and  its  intensity.  A  Northern  gentleman,  who  was  in  Charles- 
ton, S.  C,  when  the  tidings  of  the  assassination  reached  there, 
writes,  — 

"  I  never  saw  such  sad  faces  or  heard  such  heavy  heart-beatings 
as  here  in  Charleston  the  day  the  dreadful  news  came.  The 
colored  people,  the  native  loyalists,  were  like  children  bereaved 

55 


434  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

of  an  only  and  a  loved  parent.  I  saw  one  old  woman  going  up 
the  street  wringing  her  hands,  and  saying  aloud  as  she  walked, 
looking  straight  before  her,  so  absorbed  in  her  grief  that  she 
noticed  no  one,  — 

"  *  0  Lord,  0  Lord,  0  Lord  !  Massa  Sam's  dead !  Massa  Sam's 
dead  !     0  Lord  !   Massa  Sam's  dead  ! ' 

" '  Who's  dead,  aunty  ?  '  I  asked  her. 

" '  Massa  Sam !  "  she  said,  not  looking  at  me.  '  0  Lord,  0 
Lord  !  Massa  Sam's  dead  ! ' 

"  '  Who's  Massa  Sam  ?  '  I  asked. 

«  '  Uncle  Sam  !  "  she  said.     '  0  Lord,  O  Lord  ! ' 

"  I  was  not  quite  sure  that  she  meant  the  President,  and  I  spoke 
again.     '  Who's  Massa  Sam,  aunty  ?  ' 

"  '■  Mr.  Linkum,'  she  said,  and  resumed  wTinging  her  hands,  and 
moaning  in  utter  hopelessness  of  sorrow.  The  poor  creature 
was  too  ignorant  to  comprehend  any  difference  between  the  very 
unreal  Uncle  Sam  and  the  actual  President ;  but  her  heart  told 
her  that  he  whom  Heaven  had  sent  in  answer  to  her  prayers  was 
lying  in  a  bloody  grave,  and  that  she  and  her  race  were  left 
fatherless  J^ 

The  body  of  the  President  was  removed  to  the  White  House, 
and  placed  in  a  coflSn  almost  buried  in  flowers,  which  the  affection 
of  a  bereaved  people  supplied.  It  is  estimated  that  fifty  thousand 
persons  went  to  the  White  House  to  take  a  last  look  of  his  loved 
face.  The  funeral  solemnities  were  conducted  by  clergymen  of 
the  Presbyterian,  Methodist,  Episcopal,  and  Baptist  churches. 
Dr.  Gurley,  in  his  noble  tribute  to  the  deceased,  said,  — 

"  Probably  no  man,  since  the  days  of  Washington,  was  ever  so 
deeply  and  firmly  embedded  and  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people  as  Abraham  Lincoln.  Nor  was  it  a  mistaken  confidence 
and  love.  He  deserved  it,  deserved  it  well,  deserved  it  all.  He 
merited  it  by  his  character,  by  his  acts,  and  by  the  tenor  and  tone 
and  spirit  of  his  life." 

It  may  be  truly  said  that  the  funeral-train  extended  fifteen 
hundred  miles,  —  from  Washington  to  Springfield,  111.  Groups 
gathered  as  mourners  at  every  station,  bells  were  tolled,  and 
bands  of  music  breathed  forth  their  plaintive  requiems.  In  some 
places,  the  railway,  for  miles,  was  lined  with  a  continuous  group 
of  men,  women,  and  children,  standing  in  silence,  with  uncovered 
heads  and  swimming  eyes,  as  the  solemn  pageant  swept  by.     It 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  435 

would  require  a  volume  to  describe  the  scenes  which  were  wit- 
nessed in  the  various  cities  and  villages  through  which  the  funeral 
procession  passed. 

The  train  reached  Springfield,  111.,  on  the  morning  of  the  3d 
of  May.      Bishop  Simpson  of  the  Methodist  Church,  a  personal 
friend  of  the  President,  in  his  funeral  address  quoted  the  follow- 
ing words  from  one  of  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1859 
Speaking  of  the  slave-power,  Mr.  Lincoln  said, — 

"  Broken  by  it  I,  too,  may  be ;  bow  to  it  I  never  will.  The 
probability  that  we  may  fail  in  the  struggle  ought  not  to  deter  us 
from  the  support  of  a  cause  which  I  deem  to  be  just ;  and  it  shall 
not  deter  me.  If  ever  I  feel  the  soul  within  me  elevate  and 
expand  to  those  dimensions  not  wholly  unworthy  of  the  almighty 
Architect,  it  is  when  I  contemplate  the  cause  of  my  country,  de 
serted  by  all  the  world  besides,  and  I  standing  up  boldly  and 
alone,  and  hurling  defiance  at  her  victorious  oppressors.  Here, 
without  contemplating  conseqiiences,  before  high  Heaven,  and  in 
the  face  of  the  world,  I  swear  eternal  fidelity  to  the  just  cause,  as 
I  deem  it,  of  the  land  of  my  life,  my  liberty,  and  my  love." 

England  vied  with  America  in  expressions  of  respect  and  affec- 
tion for  our  martyred  President.  The  statement  contained  in  "  The 
London  Spectator  "  will  surely  be  the  verdict  of  posterity,  that 
Abraham  Lincoln  was  "  the  best  if  not  the  ablest  man  then  rul- 
ing over  any  country  in  the  civilized  world."  The  Queen  of 
England,  with  her  own  hand,  wrote  a  letter  of  condolence  to  Mrs. 
Lincoln.  The  sympathy  which  was  manifested  for  us  by  the 
English,  in  this  our  great  grief,  so  touched  all  loyal  hearts,  that 
Americans  began  to  think  that  it  was  possible  that  England  and 
America  might  yet  again  be  united  in  the  bonds  of  brotherly 
love,  burying  all  past  grievances  in  oblivion. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ANDREW     JOHNSON. 

His  Lowly  Origin.  —  Straggles  for  Education.  —  Early  Distinction.  —  Alderman,  Mayor, 
State  Representative,  State  Senator.  —  Speeches.* —  Member  of  Congress.  —  Governor.  — 
Anecdote.  —  United-States  Senator.  —  Opposition  to  Secession.  —  Speeches.  —  Graduil 
Change  of  Views.  —  Jlilitarj'  Governor  of  Tennessee.  —  Address  to  the  Colored  People. — 
Vigorous  Administration.  —  Vice-President.  —  Speeches.  —  President.  —  Political  Views. 
—  Agreement  with  the  Republican  Party.  —  Conflict  with  Congress.  —  His  Policy. — 
Articles  of  Amendment.  —  Peter  Cooper.  —  Future  Prospects. 

.  The  early  life  of  Andrew  Johnson  contains  but  the  record  of 
poverty,  destitution,  and  friendlessness.    He  was  born  the  29th  of 


KKSIDKNCK    OK    AN1>KK\V   JOHNSON'. 


December,  1808,  in  Raleigh,  the  capital  of  Xorth  Carolina.  His 
parents,  belonging  to  the  class  of  the  "poor  whites''  of  the  South, 
were  in  such  circumstances,  that  they  could  not  confer  even  the 

436 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  437 

slightest  advantages  of  education  upon  their  child.  When  Andrew 
was  five  years  of  age,  his  father  accidentally  lost  his  life  while 
heroically  endeavoring  to  save  a  friend  from  drowning.  Until  ten 
years  of  age,  Andrew  was  a  ragged  boy  about  the  streets,  sup- 
ported by  the  labor  of  his  mother,  who  obtained  her  living  with 
her  own  hands. 

He  then,  having  never  attended  a  school  one  day,  and  being 
unable  either  to  read  or  write,  was  apprenticed  to  a  tailor  in  his 
native  town.  A  benevolent  gentleman  of  Raleigh  was  in  the 
habit  of  going  to  the  tailor's  shop  occasionally,  and  reading  to  tlie 
boys  at  work  there.  He  often  read  from  the  speeches  of  distin- 
guished British  statesmen.  Andrew,  who  was  endowed  with  a 
mind  of  more  than  ordinary  native  ability,  became  much  interest- 
ed in  these  speeches :  his  ambition  was  roused,  and  he  was  inspired 
with  a  strong  desire  to  learn  to  read. 

He  accordingly  applied  himself  to  the  alphabet,  and,  wnth  the 
assistance  of  some  of  his  fellow-workmen,  learned  his  letters.  He 
then  called  upon  the  gentleman  to  borrow  the  book  of  speeches. 
The  owner,  pleased  with  his  zeal,  not  only  gave  him  the  book,  but 
assisted  him  in  learning  to  combine  the  letters  into  words.  Under 
such  difficulties  he  pressed  onward  laboriously,  spending  usually 
ten  or  twelve  hours  at  work  in  the  shop,  and  then  robbing  himself 
of  rest  and  recreation  to  devote  such  time  as  he  could  to  reading. 

In  1824,  when  sixteen  years  of  age,  having  finished  his  appren- 
ticeship, he  went  to  Laurens  Court  House,  in  South  Carolina,  and 
worked  as  a  journeyman  tailor  for  two  years.  It  does  not  appear, 
that,  during  this  time,  he  made  much  progress  in  his  attempts  to 
learn  to  read  with  correctness  and  fluency.  It  is  said  tliat  he 
became  quite  interested  in  a  girl  of  the  village,  and  would  have 
married  her  but  for  the  objections  which  her  parents  made  in  con- 
sequence of  his  extreme  youth. 

In  1826,  he  returned  to  Raleigh,  and,  taking  his  mother  with 
him,  removed  to  Greenville,  a  small  town  in  East  Tennessee, 
where  he  resumed  his  work  as  a  journeyman  tailor,  and  married  a 
young  woman  of  very  estimable  character,  and  who  was  so  de- 
cidedly in  advance  of  him  in  point  of  education,  that  she  became 
his  teacher  in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  She  read  to  him 
as  he  plied  the  needle  on  the  bench,  and  in  the  evenings  instruct- 
ed him  in  other  branches.  Rapidly  the  young  mechanic  advanced 
in  intelligence.     His  mental  energy  gave  him  influence  among  the 


438  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

workmen.  Words  came  easily  at  his  bidding,  and  he  knew  well 
how  to  use  all  the  information  he  gained.  His  popularity  with  the 
working-classes  was  such,  that,  in  1828,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
aldermen  in  the  little  town  in  which  he  dwelt ;  which  position  he 
held  for  two  years,  when,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  he  was  elected 
Kiayor.  The  position  which  he  then  occupied  in  public  esteem 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  he  was  also  appointed,  by  the 
county  court,  one  of  the  trustees  of  Rhea  Academy. 

He  now  began  to  take  a  lively  interest  in  political  affairs;  identi- 
fying himself  with  the  working-classes,  to  which  he  belonged.  His 
zeal  in  their  behalf,  and  the  ever-increasing  ability  with  which  he 
espoused  their  cause,  won  their  esteem,  and  secured  for  him,  with 
great  unanimity,  their  votes.  In  1835,  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  Tennessee.  He  was  then  just 
twenty-seven  years  of  age.  He  became  a  very  active  member  of 
the  legislature,  gave  his  adhesion  to  the  Democratic  party,  and 
in  1840  "  stumped  the  State,"  advocating  Martin  Van  Buren's 
claims  to  the  presidency,  in  opposition  to  those  of  Gen.  Harrison. 
In  this  campaign  he  acquired  much  readiness  as  a  speaker,  and 
extended  and  increased  his  reputation. 

In  1841,  he  was  elected  State  senator  from  Hawkins  and  Greene 
Counties.  The  duties  which  devolved  upon  him  he  discharged 
with  ability,  and  was  universally  esteemed  as  an  earnest,  honest 
man,  heartily  advocating  whatever  he  thought  to  be  right,  and 
denouncing  what  he  thought  to  be  wrong.  In  1843,  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  Congress,  and,  by  successive  elections,  held 
tliat  important  post  for  ten  years.  In  185o,  he  was  elected  Gov- 
ernor of  Tennessee,  and  was  re-elected  in  1855.  In  all  these  re- 
sponsible positions,  he  discharged  his  duties  with  distinguished 
ability,  and  proved  himself  the  warm  friend  of  the  working-classes. 

The  following  characteristic  anecdote  is  related  of  him  when 
Governor  of  Tennessee.  With  his  own  hands  he  cut  and  made 
a  very  handsome  suit  of  clothes,  and  sent  them  as  a  present  to 
Gov.  M^GofRn  of  Kentucky,  who  had  been  his  friend  and  com- 
panion in  earlier  days.  The  Kentucky  governor  had  been  a 
blacksmith  by  trade.  He  returned  the  compliment  by  forging 
upon  the  anvil,  with  his  own  hands,  a  very  neat  pair  of  shovel  and 
tongs,  which  he  sent  to  Gov.  Johnson,  with  the  wish  that  they 
would  help  to  keep  alive  the  flame  of  their  old  friendship. 

In  1857,  Mr.  Johnson  was  elected,  by  the  Legislature  of  Ten- 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  439 

nessee,  United-States  senator  for  the  term  of  six  years.  In 
Congress,  both  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House,  he  adopted,  in 
general,  the  Democratic  poHcy.  He  opposed  a  protective  tariff, 
and  advocated  the  Homestead  Bill.  He  belonged  to  the  strict 
constructionist  class  of  politicians,  fearing  lest  the  National  Gov- 
ernment should  have  too  much  power;  and  he  opposed  any  United- 
States  bank,  and  all  schemes  of  internal  improvement  by  the  Na- 
tional Government.  He  also  went  strongly  with  the  South  in  its 
views  of  the  incompetency  of  Congress  to  prevent  the  extension 
of  slavery  into  the  Territories. 

Years  before,  in  1845,  he  had  warmly  advocated  the  annexation 
of  Texas;  stating  however,  as  a  reason,  that  he  thought  this  an- 
nexation would  probably  prove  "  to  be  the  gateway  out  of  which 
the  sable  sons  of  Africa  are  to  pass  from  bondage  to  freedom,  and 
become  merged  in  a  population  congenial  to  themselves."  In 
1850,  he  also  earnestly  supported  the  compromise  measures,  the 
two  essential  features  of  which  were,  that  the  white  people  of  the 
Territories  should  be  permitted  to  decide  for  themselves  whether 
they  would  enslave  the  colored  population  or  not,  and  that  the 
free  States  of  the  North  should  return  to  the  South  any  persons 
who  should  attempt  to  escape  from  slavery. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  never  ashamed  of  his  lowly  origin  :  on  the 
contrary,  he  often  took  pride  in  avowing  that  he  owed  his  dis- 
tinction to  his  own  exertions.  "  Sir,"  said  he  on  the  floor  of  the 
Senate,  ''I  do  not  forget  that  I  am  a  mechanic.  Neither  do  I 
forget  that  Adam  was  a  tailor  and  sewed  fig-leaves,  and  that  our 
Saviour  was  the  son  of  a  carpenter." 

In  the  spring  of  1858,  Senator  Hammond,  of  South  Carolina 
made  a  speech  in  Congress,  containing  the  following  sentences:  — 

''In  all  social  systems,  there  must  be  a  class  to  do  the  menial 
duties,  to  perform  the  drudgery  of  life.  Such  a  class  you  must 
have.  It  constitutes  the  very  mudsill  of  society  and  of  political 
government ;  and  you  might  as  well  attempt  to  build  a  house  in 
the  air  as  to  build  either  the  one  or  the  other,  except  on  this  mud- 
sill. The  man  who  lives  by  daily  labor,  and  who  has  to  put  out 
his  labor  in  the  market,  and  take  the  best  he  can  get  for  it ;  in 
short,  your  whole  class  of  manual  laborers  and  operatives,  as  yt)u 
call  them, —are  essentially  slaves.  The  difference  is,  that  our 
slaves  are  hired  for  life  :  yours  are  hired  by  the  day.  Our  slaves 
are  black;  yours  are  white:  our  slaves  do  not  vote  ;  yours  vote." 


440  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Senator  Johnson,  in  his  characteristic  reply,  said,  "  Will  it  do 
to  assume  that  the  man  who  labors  with  his  hands  is  a  slave  ? 
No,  sir.  I  am  a  laborer  with  my  hands,  and  I  never  considered 
myself  a  slave." 

Mr.  Hammond,  interrupting  him,  inquired,  "  Will  the  senator 
define  a  slave  ?  " 

Mr.  Johnson  replied,  "  What  we  understand  to  be  a  slave  in 
the  South  is  a  person  who  is  held  to  service  during  his  or  her 
natural  life,  subject  to  and  under  the  control  of  a  master,  who  has 
the  right  to  appropriate  the  products  of  his  or  her  labor  to  his 
own  use.  If  we  were  to  follow  out  the  idea  that  every  operative 
and  laborer  is  a  slave,  we  should  find  a  great  many  distinguished 
slaves  since  the  world  began.  Socrates,  who  first  conceived  the 
idea  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  pagan  as  he  was,  labored  with 
his  own  hands ;  yes,  wielded  the  chisel  and  the  mallet,  giving 
polish  and  finish  to  the  stone.  He  afterwards  turned  to  be  a 
fashioner  and  constructor  of  the  mind. 

''  Paul,  the  great  expounder,  himself  was  a  tent-maker,  and 
worked  with  his  own  hands.  Was  he  a  slave  ?  Archimedes,  who 
declared,  that,  if  he  had  a  place  on  which  to  rest  the  fulcrum,  with 
the  power  of  his  lever  he  could  move  the  world,  —  was  he  a  slave  ? 
Adam,  our  great  father  and  head,  the  lord  of  the  world,  was  a 
tailor  by  trade.     I  wonder  if  he  were  a  slave." 

Mr.  Johnson  was  strongly  opposed  to  secession,  not  however, 
at  first,  upon  the  ground  that  the  slaveholders  were  not  right  in 
their  claim  that  slavery  should  be  nationalized  :  but,  foreseeing  the 
folly  of  an  appeal  to  arms,  he  urged  them  to  remain,  and  struggle 
for  the  attainment  of  their  ends  on  the  floor  of  Congress ;  or,  as 
he  expressed  it,  to  "  fight  for  their  constitutional  rights  on  the 
battlements  of  the  Constitution."  He  said,  "  We  can  more  suc- 
cessfully resist  Black  Republicanism  by  remaining  within  the 
Union  than  by  going  out  of  it.  As  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  he  said  on 
the  19th  of  December,  1861,  ''I  voted  against  him;  I  spoke 
against  him ;  I  spent  my  money  to  defeat  him." 

There  was,  perhaps,  no  one  in  Congress  who  exposed  the  ab- 
surdity of  the  doctrine  of  secession  in  strains  more  eloquent  and 
convincing  to  the  popular  mind. 

"  Now  let  me  ask,"  said  he,  "  can  any  one  believe,  that,  in  the 
creation  of  this  Government,  its  founders  intended  that  it  should 
have  the  power  to  acquire  territory  and  form  it  into  States,  and 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  441 

then  permit  them  to  go  out  of  the  Union  ?  Let  us  take  a  case. 
How  long  has  it  been  since  your  armies  were  in  Mexico,  your 
brave  men  exposed  to  the  diseases,  the  sufferings,  incident  to  a 
campaign  of  that  kind  ;  many  of  them  falHng  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet,  consigned  to  their  long,  narrow  home,  with  no  winding- 
sheet  but  their  blankets  saturated  with  their  blood?  What  did 
Mexico  cost  you  ?  One  hundred  and  twenty  million  dollars. 
What  did  you  pay  for  the  country  you  acquired,  besides  ?  Fif- 
teen million  dollars. 

"  Peace  was  made ;  territory  was  acquired ;  and,  in  a  few 
years,  California,  from  that  territory,  erected  herself  into  a  free 
and  independent  State.  Under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution, 
we  admitted  her  as  a  member  of  this  confederacy.  And  now, 
after  having  expended  one  hundred  and  twenty  million  dollars  in 
the  war ;  after  having  lost  many  of  our  bravest  and  most  gallant 
men  ;  after  having  paid  fifteen  million  dollars  to  Mexico  for  the 
territory,  and  admitted  it  into  the  Union  as  a  State,  according  to 
this  modern  doctrine,  the  National  Government  was  just  made  to 
let  them  step  in,  and  then  to  let  them  step  out !  Is  it  not  absurd 
to  say  that  California,  on  her  own  volition,  without  regard  to  the 
consideration  paid  for  her,  without  regard  to  the  policy  which 
dictated  her  acquisition  by  the  United  States,  can  walk  out,  and 
bid  you  defiance  ? 

"  But  we  need  not  stop  here.  Let  us  go  to  Texas.  Texas  was 
engaged  in  a  revolution  with  Mexico.  She  succeeded  in  the  as- 
sertion and  establishment  of  her  independence.  She  applied  for 
admission  into  this  family  of  States.  After  she  was  in,  she  was 
oppressed  by  the  debts  of  the  war  which  had  resulted  in  her 
separation  from  Mexico.  She  was  harassed  by  Indians  on  her 
border.  There  was  an  extent  of  territory  that  lies  north,  if  my 
memory  serves  me  right,  embracing  what  is  now  called  the  Terri- 
tory of  New  Mexico.  Texas  had  it  not  in  her  power  to  protect 
the  citizens  that  were  there.  It  was  a  dead  limb,  paralyzed, 
lifeless. 

"  The  Federal  Government  came  along  as  a  kind  physician, 
saying,  *  We  will  take  this  limb,  vitalize  it  by  giving  protection 
to  the  people,  and  incorporating  it  into  a  territorial  government ; 
and,  in  addition  to  that,  we  will  give  you  ten  million  dollars,  and 
you  may  retain  your  own  public  lands.'  And  the  other  States 
were  taxed  in  common  to  pay  this  ten  million  dollars.     Now,  after 

56 


442  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

all  this  is  done,  is  Texas  to  sav,  '  I  will  walk  out  of  this  Union  '  ? 
Were  there  no  other  parties  to  this  compact?  Did  we  take  in 
California,  did  we  take  in  Texas,  just  to  benefit  themselves  ? 

*•'  Again  :  take  the  case  of  Louisiana.  What  did  we  pay  for  her 
in  1803  ?  and  for  what  was  she  wanted  ?  Was  it  just  to  let  Louisi- 
ana into  the  Union  ?  Was  it  just  for  the  benefit  of  that  particular 
locality  ?  Was  not  the  mighty  West  looked  to  ?  Was  it  not  to 
secure  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  River,  the  mouth  of 
which  was  then  in  the  possession  of  France  ?  Yes  :  the  naviga- 
tion of  that  river  was  wanted.  Simply  for  Louisiana  ?  Xo,  but 
for  all  the  States.  The  United  States  paid  fifteen  million  dol- 
lars, and  France  ceded  the  country  to  the  L^nited  States.  It  re- 
mained in  a  territorial  condition  for  a  while,  sustained  and  pro- 
tected by  the  strong  arm  of  the  Federal  Government.  We  ac- 
quired the  territory  and  the  navigation  of  the  river ;  and  the 
money  was  paid  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  States,  and  not  of  Louisi- 
ana exclusively. 

"And  now  that  this  great  valley  is  filled  up;  now  that  the  navi- 
gation of  the  Mississippi  is  one  hundred  times  more  important 
than  it  was  then :  now,  after  the  United  States  have  paid  the 
money,  have  acquired  the  title  to  Louisiana,  and  have  incorpo- 
rated her  into  the  confederacy,  —  it  is  proposed  that  she  should 
go  out  of  the  L'nion  ! 

'*  In  1815,  when  her  shores  were  invaded:  when  her  city  was 
about  to  be  sacked ;  when  her  booty  and  her  beauty  were  about 
to  fall  a  prey  to  British  aggression,  — the  brave  men  of  Tennessee 
and  of  Kentucky  and  of  the  surrounding  States  rushed  into  her 
borders  and  upon  her  shores,  and,  under  the  lead  of  her  own  gal- 
lant Jackson,  drove  the  invading  forces  away.  And  now,  after  aU 
this,  after  the  money  has  been  paid,  after  the  free  navigation  of 
the  river  has  been  obtained, —  not  for  the  benefit  of  Louisiana 
alone,  but  for  her  in  common  with  all  the  States, —  Louisiana  says 
to  the  other  States, — 

" '  We  will  go  out  of  this  confederacy.  We  do  not  care  if  you 
did  fight  our  battles  ;  we  do  not  care  if  you  did  acquire  the  free 
navigation  of  this  river  from  France :  we  will  go  out,  and  consti- 
tute ourselves  an  independent  power,  and  bid  defiance  to  the 
other  States.' 

"  It  may  be,  that,  at  this  moment,  there  is  not  a  citizen  in  the 
State  of  Louisiana  who  would  think  of  obstructing:  the  free  navi- 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  443 

gation  of  the  river.  But  are  not  nations  controlled  by  their  inter- 
ests in  varying  circumstances  ?  And  hereafter,  when  a  conflict 
of  interest  arises,  Louisiana  might  feel  disposed  to  tax  our  citizens 
going  down  there.  It  is  a  power  that  I  am  not  willing  to  concede 
to  be  exercised  at  the  discretion  of  any  authority  outside  of  this 
Government.  So  sensitive  have  been  the  people  of  my  State 
upon  the  free  navigation  of  that  river,  that  as  far  back  as  1796,  — 
now  sixty-four  years  ago,  —  in  their  Bill  of  Rights,  before  they 
passed  iinder  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  they  de- 
clared — 

"'That  an  equal  participation  of  the  free  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi  is  one  of  the  inherent  rights  of  the  citizens  of  this 
State.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  conceded  to  any  prince,  potentate, 
power,  person  or  persons,  whatever.' 

"  This  shows  the  estimate  that  people  fixed  on  this  stream  si^ty- 
four  3^ears  ago ;  and  now  we  are  told,  that,  if  Louisiana  does  go 
out,  it  is  not  her  intention  to  tax  the  people  above.  Who  can  tell 
what  may  be  the  intention  of  Louisiana  hereafter  ?  Are  we  will- 
ing to  place  the  rights,  the  travel,  and  the  commerce  of  our  citi- 
zens at  the  discretion  of  any  power  outside  of  this  Government? 
I  will  not. 

''  How  long  is  it  since  Florida  lay  on  our  coasts  an  annoyance 
to  us  ?  And  now  she  has  got  feverish  about  being  an  independ- 
ent and  separate  government,  while  she  has  not  as  many  qualified 
voters  as  there  are  in  one  Congressional  district  of  any  other 
State.  What  condition  did  Florida  occupy  in  1811  ?  She  was  in 
possession  of  Spain.  What  did  the  United  States  thinly  about  hav- 
ing adjacent  territory  outside  of  their  jurisdiction  ?  Spain  was 
inimical  to  the  United  States ;  and,  in  view  of  the  great  principles 
of  self-preservation,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  passed  a 
resolution,  declaring  that,  if  Spain  attempted  to  transfer  Florida 
into  the  hands  of  any  other  power,  the  United  States  would  take 
possession  of  it.  There  was  the  Territory  lying  upon  our  border, 
outside  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States;  and  we  declared, 
by  an  act  of  Congress,  that  no  foreign  power  should  possess  it. 

"  We  went  still  farther,  and  appropriated  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  and  authorized  the  President  to  enter,  and  take  possession 
of  it  with  the  means  placed  in  his  hands.  Afterwards  we  nego- 
tiated with  Spain,  and  gave  six  million  dollars  for  the  Territory ; 
and  we  established  a  territorial  government  for  it.     What  next  ? 


444  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

We  undertook  to  drive  out  the  Seminole  Indians ;  and  we  had  a 
war,  in  which  this  Government  lost  more  than  in  all  the  other  wars 
it  was  engaged  in;  and  we  paid  the  sum  of  twenty -five  million 
dollars  to  get  the  Seminoles  out  of  the  swamps,  so  that  the  Ter- 
ritory could  be  inhabited  by  white  men. 

''  But  now  that  the  Territory  is  paid  for,  the  Indians  are  driven 
out,  and  twenty-five  million  dollars  have  been  expended,  they  want 
no  longer  the  protection  of  this  Government,  but  will  go  out  with- 
out consulting  the  other  States  ;  without  reference  to  the  remain- 
ing parties  to  the  compact.  Where  will  she  go  ?  Will  she 
attach  herself  to  Spain  again  ?  Will  she  pass  back  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Seminoles?  After  having  been  nurtured  and  pro- 
tected and  fostered  by  all  these  States,  now,  without  regard  to 
them,  is  she  to  be  allowed,  at  her  own  volition,  to  withdraw  from 
the  Union  ?  I  say  that  she  has  no  constitutional  right  to  do  it. 
When  she  does  it,  it  is  an  act  of  aggression.  If  she  succeeds,  it 
will  only  be  a  successful  revolution;  if  she  does  not  succeed,  she 
must  take  the  penalties  and  terrors  of  the  law. 

"  I  have  referred  to  the  acts  of  Congress  for  acquiring  Florida 
as  setting  forth  a  principle.  What  is  that  principle?  It  is,  that, 
from  the  geographical  relations  of  this  Territory  to  the  United 
States,  we  authorized  the  President  to  expend  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars  to  get  a  foothold  there,  and  especially  to  take  possession 
of  it  if  it  were  likely  to  pass  to  any  foreign  power." 

In  such  strains  of  eloquence  and  moral  demonstration.  Senator 
Johnson  exposed  the  absurdity  of  the  doctrine  of  secession. 

As  the  secessionists  grew  more  determined  in  their  measures, 
Mr,  Johnson  grew  more  bold  in  his  opposition.  The  slaveholders 
became  exceedingly  exasperated.  He  was  denounced  as  a  traitor 
to  the  South,  and  was  threatened  with  assassination.  But  he  was 
the  last  man  to  be  intimidated  by  menaces.  The  North  looked 
with  admiration  upon  the  moral  courage  he  displayed,  in  thus 
contending,  as  it  were  single-handed,  against  almost  every  senator 
and  representative  of  the  South.  In  this  admiration,  they  forgot 
that  Mr.  Johnson  was,  and  ever  had  been,  with  the  South  in  their 
claims. 

**  I  am  opposed,"  he  said,  "  to  secession.  I  believe  it  no  remedy 
for  the  evils  complained  of  Instead  of  acting  with  that  division 
of  my  Southern  friends  who  take  ground  for  secession,  I  shall  take 
other  grounds,  wliile  I  try  to  accom^plish  the  same  end.     I  think  that 


ANDREW  JOHNSOir.  445 

this  battle  ought  to  be  fought,  not  outside,  but  inside,  of  the 
Union." 

In  consequence  of  this  course,  the  wrath  of  the  secessionists  fell 
bitterly  upon  him.  He  was  burned  in  effigy  at  Memphis;  and  on 
his  return  to  Tennessee  in  April,  1861,  he  was  insulted  repeatedly 
by  mobs,  and  threatened  with  lynching.  A  price  even  was  set 
upon  his  head.  This  did  but  inspire  his  zeal,  and  enable  him  with 
more  eloquence  to  plead  the  Union  cause. 

Kentucky  was  now  invaded,  and  the  rebels  in  large  armies  were 
ravaging  Tennessee,  plundering,  burning,  murdering.  Every  man 
who  would  not  espouse  their  cause  was  in  danger  of  being  hung 
on  the  limb  of  the  next  tree.  Never  before  was  there  more  ferocity 
exhibited  in  a  civilized  land.  A  rebel  band  sacked  his  home,  drove 
his  sick  wife  and  child  into  the  streets,  confiscated  his  slaves  (for, 
with  increasing  wealth,  he  had  become  a  slave-owner),  and  turned 
his  house  into  a  hospital  and  barracks  for  the  soldiers. 

The  heroism  with  which  Mr.  Johnson  opposed  the  secessionists 
received  a  new  impulse  from  these  outrages ;  and  the  Union  party 
at  the  North  began  to  regard  him  as,  in  all  points,  in  sympathy  with 
them.  Indeed,  as  he  witnessed  the  violence  of  the  proslavery- 
men,  and  saw  clearly  that  the  institution  of  slavery  was  at  the 
foundation  of  all  their  treason,  his  speeches  indicated  a  continuall}' 
increasing  sympathy  with  the  views  of  the  great  Republican  party 
which  had  elected  Abraham  Lincoln.     He  had  already  said, — 

"  We  may  as  well  talk  of  things  as  they  are  ;  for,  if  any  thing  can 
be  treason,  is  not  levying  war  upon  the  Government  treason  ?  Is 
not  the  attempt  to  take  the  property  of  the  Government,  and  to 
expel  the  soldiers  therefrom,  treason  ?  Is  not  attempting  to  resist 
the  collection  of  the  revenue,  attempting  to  exclude  the  mails, 
and  driving  the  Federal  courts  from  her  borders,  treason?  What 
is  it  ?     It  is  treason,  and  nothing  but  treasonJ' 

This  speech,  to  which  reason  could  make  no  reply,  was  met  with 
hisses,  reproaches,  threats,  and  a  shower  of  abuse.  Growing  still 
bolder,  he  exclaimed,  — 

"  Does  it  need  any  search  to  find  those  who  are  levying  war, 
and  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  enemies  against  the  United  States? 
And  this  is  treason.  Treason  ought  to  be  punished,  North  and 
South  ;  and,  if  there  are  traitors,  they  should  be  entitled  to  traitors' 
reward." 

Again  he  said,  speaking  of  the  rebels,  "  Were  I  the  President 


446  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

of  tlie  United  States,  I  would  do  as  Thomas  Jefferson  did  in  1806 
with  Aaron  Burr.  I  would  have  them  arrested  and  tried  for 
treason  ;  and,  if  convicted,  by  the  Eternal  God  they  should  suffer 
the  penalty  of  the  law  at  the  hands  of  the  executioner  !  Sir, 
treason  must  be  punished.  Its  enormity,  and  the  extent  and 
depth  of  the  offence,  must  be  made  known." 

This  was  said  in  the  Senate  Chamber  on  the  2d  of  March,  1861. 
A  few  weeks  after  this,  on  the  19th  of  June,  in  a  speech  at  Cincin- 
nati, he  said,  speaking  in  the  same  impassioned  strain,  ''  I  repeat, 
this  odious  doctrine  of  secession  should  be  crushed  out,  destroyed, 
and  totally  annihilated.  No  government  can  stand,  no  religious 
or  moral  or  social  organization  can  stand,  where  this  doctrine  is 
tolerated.  It  is  disintegration,  universal  dissolution.  Therefore 
I  repeat,  that  this  odious  and  abominable  doctrine  (you  must 
pardon  me  for  using  a  strong  expression,  I  do  not  say  it  in  a  pro- 
fane sense),  —  but  this  doctrine  I  conceive  to  be  hell-born  and  hell- 
bound,  and  one  which  will  carry  every  thing  in  its  train,  unless  it 
is  arrested,  and  crushed  out  from  our  midst." 

Mr.  Johnson  was  a  Democrat  of  the  Jacksonian  school.  Though 
he  had  strongly  leaned  to  the  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty,  and 
a  strict  construction  of  the  Constitution,  the  assumptions  of  the 
secessionists  were  crowdino*  him  over  into  the  ranks  of  those  who 
would  increase  rather  than  diminish  the  power  of  the  Central  Gov- 
ernment. Thus  upon  this  point  he  had  abandoned  the  old  Jeffer- 
sonian  party,  and  allied  himself  with  the  Federalists. 

In  February,  1862,  by  the  capture  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson, 
the  main  body  of  the  rebel  army  was  driven  out  of  Western  and 
Middle  Tennessee.  President  Lincoln,  with  the  approval  of  the 
Senate,  appointed  Andrew  Johnson  Military  Governor  of  the  State. 
The  appointment  was  received  with  enthusiasm  by  nearly  all  the 
loyal  men  in  the  Union.  On  the  12th  of  March,  he  reached  Nash- 
ville, and  commenced  his  administration  with  energy,  which  cheered 
the  hearts  of  the  long-suffering  Unionists. 

The  Mayor  of  Nashville  and  the  City  Council  refused  to  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance.  He  sent  them  to  the  penitentiary,  and  ap- 
pointed others  in  their  place.  The  editor  of  "  The  Nashville  Ban- 
ner," for  uttering  treasonable  sentiments,  was  imprisoned,  and  his 
paper  suppressed.  All  over  the  State,  guerilla  secessionists  were 
maltreating  the  Unionists,  plundering  their  homes,  and  driving 
their  wives  and  children  into  the  streets,  as  they  had  done  with 


ANDREW  JOHNSOir.  447 

Mr.  Johnson's  family.     The  diflSi^ulty  was  met  in  the  following 
proclamation :  — 

"  I,  Andrew  Johnson,  do  hereby  proclaim,  that,  in  every  instance 
in  which  a  Union  man  is  arrested  and  maltreated  by  marauding 
bands,  five  or  more  rebels,  from  the  most  prominent  in  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood,  shall  be  arrested,  imprisoned,  and  otherwise 
dealt  with  as  the  nature  of  the  case  may  require  ;  and  further,  in 
all  cases  where  the  property  of  citizens,  loyal  to  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  is  taken  or  destroyed,  full  and  ample  remu- 
neration shaJl  be  made  to  them  out  of  the  property  of  such  rebels 
in  the  vicinity  as  have  sympathized  with,  and  given  aid,  comfort, 
information,  or  encouragement  to,  the  parties  committing  such 
depredations." 

This  order  was  issued  on  the  9th  of  May.  Early  in  June, 
another  order  appeared,  declaring  that  all  persons  guilty  of  utter- 
ing disloyal  sentiments,  who  should  refuse  to  take  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance and  give  bonds  in  a  thousand  dollars  for  their  future  good 
behavior,  should  be  sent  South,  and  treated  as  spies,  that  is,  hung, 
if  again  found  within  the  Federal  lines.  Six  clergymen  boldly 
preached  treason  from  their  pulpits.  As  they  persisted,  after  due 
warning,  five  were  sent  to  prison,  and  the  sixth  paroled  in  conse- 
quence of  sickness. 

The  rebel  armies  again  entered  the  State.  Nashville  became 
isolated,  and  was  in  a  state  of  siege.  There  were  many  families 
in  Nashville  who  were  starving,  their  husbands  and  fathers  hav- 
ing joined  the  rebels.  Gov.  Johnson  assessed  a  tax  upon  the 
wealthy  .rebels  in  the  vicinity  for  their  support.  Timid  ones 
began  to  talk  of  the  necessity  of  surrender.  "  I  am  no  military 
man,"  he  said ;  "  but  any  one  who  talks  of  surrendering,  I  will 
shoot." 

There  was  in  the  Union  army  in  Tennessee  a  Methodist  clergy- 
man. Col.  Moody,  who,  in  consequence  of  his  patriotic  zeal  and 
chivalric  bravery,  accompanied  at  the  same  time  with  active  piety 
in  preaching  and  in  prayer,  had  acquired  the  sobriquet  of  the 
"Fighting  Parson."  Col.  Moody  chanced  to  be  in  Washington, 
and  related  to  President  Lincoln  the  following  anecdote  respect- 
ing Andrew  Johnson.  Gen.  Buell,  whose  reputation  as  a  deter- 
mined patriot  did  not  stand  very  high,  being  then  in  command  of 
the  Union  forces  in  Tennessee,  had  evacuated  his  position  in  the 
southern  portion  of  that  State,  and  had  fallen  back  upon  Nashville, 


448  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

followed  by  a  rebel  army.  He  then  proposed  abandoning  the 
city.  As  we  have  mentioned,  Gov.  Johnson  would  not  listen  to 
this  :  on  the  contrary,  he  declared  his  determination  to  defend 
the  city  to  the  last  extremity,  and  then  to  commit  it  to  the  flames, 
rather  than  surrender  it  to  the  rebels. 

He  was  so  dissatisfied  with  Gen.  Buell's  course,  that  he  wrote 
a  letter  to  President  Lincoln,  urging  his  removal.  Gen.  Thomas 
was  in  cordial  sympathy  with  Gov.  Johnson,  and  was  placed  in 
command  of  troops  in  the  city.  Soon,  however,  he  took  a  more 
important  command ;  and  Gen.  Negley  took  charge  of  the  defence. 
The  rebels  made  several  attacks  upon  the  outworks,  but  were  gal- 
lantly repulsed.  The  city  was  now  in  a  state  of  siege,  provisions 
were  very  scarce,  and  the  troops  were  on  half  rations. 

Under  these  circumstances.  Col.  Moody  had  a  chance  inter- 
view with  Gov.  Johnson  in  Nashville.  The  governor  was  in  his 
oflSce,  in  a  state  of  great  excitement,  walking  the  floor,  in  con- 
versation with  two  gentlemen.  The  gentlemen  withdrew  as  the 
colonel  entered,  leaving  him  alone  with  the  governor.  After  a 
moment's  pause,  the  governor  came  up  to  him,  evidently  greatly 
agitated,  and  said,  — 

"  Moody,  we  are  sold  out.  Buell  is  a  traitor.  He  is  going  to 
evacuate  the  city ;  and,  in  forty-eight  hours,  we  shall  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  rebels." 

He  then  commenced  rapidly  pacing  the  floor  again,  wringing 
his  hands,  and  chafing  like  a  caged  tiger,  utterly  unmindful  of  his 
friend's  entreaties  that  he  would  become  calm.  Suddenly  he 
stopped,  and,  turning  to  the  colonel,  said, "  Moody,  can  you  pray?" 

"  That  is  my  business,  sir,"  the  colonel  replied,  "  as  a  minister 
of  the  gospel." 

"Well,  Moody,"  said  Gov.  Johnson,  "  I  wish  you  would  pray;  " 
and,  as  the  colonel  kneeled,  the  governor  impetuously  threw  him- 
self upon  his  knees  by  his  side.  A  Western  Methodist  clergy- 
man does  not  pray  in  low  tones  of  voice,  or  with  languid  utter- 
ance. As  with  increasing  fervor  the  colonel  pleaded  with  God 
to  interpose  in  their  great  peril,  and  save  them,  the  governor 
threw  one  of  his  arms  around  his  neck,  and  responded  heartily, 
and  with  the  deepest  emotion.  Closing  the  prayer  with  an  em- 
phatic "  Amen  "  from  each,  they  arose. 

Gov.  Johnson  drew  a  long  breath,  seemed  somewhat  quieted, 
and  said,  "  Moody,  I  feel  better.    Will  you  stand  by  me?" 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  449 

"  Certainly  I  will,"  was  the  reply.  The  governor  paced  the 
floor  for  a  moment  silently,  and  then  said,  *•  Well,  Moody,  I  can 
depend  on  you.  You  are  one  in  a  hundred  thousand."  Again  he 
resumed  his  rapid  walk  in  silent  thoughtfulness  ;  when  suddenly 
he  wheeled  round,  and  said,  — 

"  0  Moody  !  I  don't  want  you  to  think  that  I  have  become  a 
religious  man  because  I  asked  you  to  pray.  I  am  sorry  to  say  it; 
but  I  am  not,  and  never  pretended  to  be,  religious.  No  one 
knows  this  better  than  you.  But,  Moody,  there  is  one  thing 
about  it:  I  do  believe  in  Almighty  God  ;  and  I  believe,  also,  in  the 
Bible ;   and  1  say,  D — n  me  if  Nashville  shall  be  surrendered !  " 

Mr.  Lincoln  narrated  this  anecdote  to  Mr.  Carpenter,  who,  ad- 
miral)ly  commenting  upon  it,  says,  "  The  incident  was  given  with 
a  thrilling  eflfect,  which  mentally  placed  Johnson,  for  a  time,  along- 
side of  Luther  and  Cromwell.  Profanity  or  irreverence  was  lost 
sight  of  in  the  fervid  utterance  of  a  highly-wrought  and  great- 
souled  determination,  united  with  a  rare  exhibition  of  pathos  and 
self-abnegation." 

It  was  not  until  October,  1862,  that  Gov.  Johnson's  family  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  him,  having  passed  through  scenes  of  great 
hardship  and  peril.  In  September,  Mr.  Lincoln  recommended  an 
election  for  members  of  Congress  in  several  districts  in  Tennes- 
see which  had  proved  loyal.  In  December,  Gov,  Johnson 
issued  a  proclamation  for  elections  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  dis- 
tricts. He  was,  however,  emphatically  opposed  to  allowing  any 
rebel  sympathizers  to  vote  on  any  of  the  acts  necessary  to  the 
restoration  of  the  State.  It  was  not  enough  in  his  view  that  the 
representative  chosen  should  be  loyal,  but  he  must  represent  a 
loyal  constituency.  He  closed  his  proclamation  in  these  decisive- 
words  :  — 

"  No  person  will  be  considered  an  elector,  qualified  to  vote,, 
who,  in  addition  to  the  other  qualifications  required  by  law,  does 
not  give  satisfactory  evidence,  to  the  judges  holding  the  election, 
of  his  loyalty  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States." 

About  the  same  time,  he  imposed  a  tax  of  sixty  thousand  dollars 
upon  the  property  of  the  secessionists  for  the  support  of  the 
poor,  the  widows,  and  the  orphans,  who  had  been  made  such  by 
the  war.  The  current  of  events  had  apparently  swept  him  along 
into  entire  sympathy  with  the  Republican  party.  He  was  not 
only  opposed  to  secession,  but  he   was  opposed  to  slavery,  it* 

57 


450  LIVES  OF   THE  PEESIDEXTS. 

originating  canse,  and  to  that  senseless  and  liangbty  aristocracy 
which  was  founded  in  the  oppression  of  the  poor  and  the  helpless. 
Although  in  the  presidential  canvass  he  had  voted  for  John  C. 
Breckinridge,  he  now  avowed  himself  the  cordial  supporter  of  the 
measures  of  President  Lincoln's  administration. 

In  the  autumn  of  1863,  he  visited  Washington  to  confer  with 
the  President  in  reference  to  the  restoration  of  Tennessee  to  the 
Union.  Our  military  operations  had  been  so  succeshful,  that  all 
organized  bodies  of  rebels  had  been  driven  from  the  State.  The 
people  who  had  been  so  long  under  the  tyrannic  rule  of  bands  of 
thieves  and  murderez's  were  rejoiced  at  their  deliverance.  Nu- 
merous conventions  were  held,  where  Gov.  Johnson  addressed 
the  people  with  that  directness,  and  cogency  of  utterance,  which 
he  had  so  eminently  at  his  command. 

"  Tennessee,"  said  he,  "  is  not  out  of  the  Union,  never  has  been, 
and  never  will  be.  The  bonds  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Federal 
powers  will  always  prevent  that.  This  Government  is  perpetual. 
Provision  is  made  for  reforming  the  Government  and  amending 
the  Constitution,  and  admitting  States  into  the  Union,  not  for 
letting  them  out. 

"  Where  are  we  now  ?  There  is  a  rebellion.  The  rebel  army 
is  driven  back.  Here  lies  your  State,  —  a  sick  man  in  his  bed, 
emaciated  and  exhausted,  paralyzed  in  all  his  powers,  and  unable 
to  walk  alone.  The  physician  comes.  The  United  States  send 
an  agent  or  a  military  governor,  whichever  you  please  to  call  him, 
to  aid  you  in  restoring  your  government.  Whenever  you  desire 
in  good  faith  to  restore  civil  authority,  you  can  do  so ;  and  a 
proclamation  for  an  election  will  be  issued  as  speedily  as  it  is 
practicable  to  hold  one.  One  by  one,  all  the  agencies  of  your 
State  government  will  be  set  in  motion.  A  legislature  will  be 
elected.  Judges  will  be  appointed  temporarily,  until  you  can 
elect  them  at  the  polls.  And  so  of  sheriffs,  county-cnurt  judges, 
justices,  and  other  officers,  until  the  way  is  fairly  open  for  the 
people,  and  all  the  parts  of  civil  government  resume  their  ordi- 
nary functions.  This  is  no  nice,  intricate,  metaphysical  question; 
it  is  a  plain,  common-sense  matter;  and  there  is  nothing  in  the 
way  but  obstinacy." 

Gov.  Johnson  had  now  so  thoroughly  identified  himself  with 
the  great  Republican  party,  and  had  so  warmly  advocated  its 
fundamental  principles,  that  his  name  begaq  to  be  spoken  of  as  a 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  451 

candidate  for  the  vice-presidency  at  the  approaching  election. 
Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine,  now  filled  that  office.  He  was  a 
gentleman  of  high  intellectual  and  moral  worth,  and  discharged 
his  duties  to  the  full  satisfaction  of  those  who  elected  him.  But, 
for  obvious  reasons,  it  was  deemed  very  important,  since  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  was  from  the  West,  to  elect  a  Vice-President  from 
some  one  of  the  Southern  States.  There  was  no  other  name  so 
prominent  as  that  of  Andrew  Johnson.  The  North  had  learned  to 
admire  the  man.  His  boldness,  his  popular  eloquence,  his  avowed 
hostility  to  slavery,  his  all-embracing  patriotism,  and  the  sufferings 
he  had  endured  in  consequence  of  his  devotion  to  his  country's 
flag,  all  endeared  him  to  the  North  ;  and,  with  enthusiasm,  the  Re- 
publican party  rallied  round  him. 

At  the  National  Convention  assembled  in  Baltimore  on  the  6th 
of  June,  1864,  almost  by  acclamation  he  was  nominated  on  the 
same  ticket  with  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  was  renominated  for  the 
presidency.  Most  cordially  this  nomination  was  responded  to  by 
the  people.  When  this  intelligence  reached  Nashville,  an  im- 
mense mass-meeting  was  assembled  to  give  it  their  ratification. 
Gov.  Johnson  was  invited  to  address  them.  In  the  speech  which 
he  made  on  this  occasion,  he  said,  — 

'^  While  society  is  in  this  disordered  state,  and  we  are  seeking 
security,  let  us  fix  the  foundations  of  the  Government  on  princi- 
ples of  eternal  justice,  which  will  endure  for  all  time.  There  are 
those  in  our  midst  who  are  for  perpetuating  the  institution  of 
slavery.  Let  me  say  to  you,  Tennesseeans,  and  men  from  the 
Northern  States,  that  slavery  is  dead.  It  was  not  murdered  by 
me.  I  told  you  long  ago  what  the  result  would  be  if  you  en- 
deavored to  go  out  of  the  Union  to  save  slavery, —  that  the 
result  would  be  bloodshed,  rapine,  devastated  fields,  plundered 
villages  and  cities ;  and  therefore  I  urged  you  to  remain  in  the 
Union.  In  trying  to  save  slavery,  you  killed  it,  and  lost  your  own 
freedom.  Your  slavery  is  dead ;  but  I  did  not  murder  it.  As 
Macbeth  said  to  Banquo's  bloody  ghost,  — 

'  Thou  canst  not  say  I  did  it : 
Never  shake  thy  gory  locks  at  me.' 

Slavery  is  dead,  and  you  must  pardon  me  if  I  do  not  mourn 
over  its  dead  body.  You  can  bury  it  out  of  sight.  In  restoring 
the  State,  leave  out  that  disturbing  and  dangerous  element,  and 


452  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

use  only  those  parts  of  the  machinery  which  will  move  in  har- 
mony. 

"  Now,  in  regard  to  emancipation,  I  want  to  say  to  the  blacks,  that 
liberty  means  liberty  to  work,  and  enjoy  the  fruits  of  your  labor. 
Idleness  is  not  freedom.  I  desire  that  all  men  shall  have  a  fair 
start  and  an  equal  chance  in  the  race  of  life ;  and  let  him  succeed 
who  has  the  most  merit.  This,  I  think,  is  a  principle  of  Heaven. 
I  am  for  emancipation,  for  two  reasons:  first,  because  it  is  right 
in  itself;  and,  second,  because,  in  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves, 
we  break  down  an  odious  and  dangerous  aristocracy.  I  think  that 
we  are  freeing  more  whites  than  blacks  in  Tennessee.  I  want  to 
see  slavery  broken  up  ;  and,  when  its  barriers  are  thrown  down,  I 
want  to  see  industrious,  thrifty  emigrants  pouring  in  from  all  parts 
of  the  country." 

The  utterance  of  such  sentiments  endeared  Gov.  Johnson  very 
much  to  all  liberty-loving  hearts.  In  a  similar  strain  he  wrote, 
in  his  letter  to  the  convention  accepting  the  nomination, — 

''  Before  the  Southern  people  assumed  a  belligerent  attitude, 
and  repeatedly  since,  I  took  occasion  most  frankly  to  declare 
the  views  I  then  entertained  in  relation  to  the  wicked  pur- 
poses of  the  Southern  politicians.  They  have  since  undergone 
but  little  if  any  change.  Time  and  subsequent  events  have 
rather  confirmed  than  diminished  my  confidence  in  their  correct- 
ness. 

"  At  the  beginning  of  this  great  struggle,  I  entertained  the 
same  opinion  of  it  that  I  do  now.  In  my  place  in  the  Senate,  I 
denounced  it  as  treason,  worthy  the  punishment  of  death,  and 
warned  the  Government  and  the  people  of  the  impending  danger. 
But  my  voice  was  not  heard,  or  my  counsel  heeded,  until  it  was 
too  late  to  avert  the  storm.  It  still  continued  to  gather  over 
us,  without  molestation  from  the  authorities  at  Washington,  until 
at  length  it  broke  with  all  its  fury  upon  the  country ;  and  now,  if 
we  would  save  the  Government  from  being  overwhelmed  by  it, 
we  must  meet  it  in  the  true  spirit  of  patriotism,  and  bring 
traitors  to  the  punishment  due  their  crimes,  and  by  force  of  arms 
crush  out  and  subdue  the  last  vestige  of  rebel  authority  in  the 
State. 

''  I  felt  then,  as  now,  that  the  destruction  of  the  Government 
was  deliberately  determined  upon  by  wicked  and  designing  con- 
spirators, whose  lives  and  fortunes  were  pledged  to  carry  it  out; 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  453 

and  that  no  compromise  short  of  an  unconditional  recognition  of 
the  independence  of  the  Southern  States  could  have  been,  or  could 
now  be,  proposed,  which  they  would  accept.  The  clamor  for 
'  Southern  rights,'  as  the  rebel  journals  were  pleased  to  designate 
their  rallying-cry,  was,  not  to  secure  their  assumed  rights  in  the 
Union  and  binder  the  Constitution,  but  to  disrupt  the  Government, 
and  establish  an  independent  organization,  based  upon  slavery, 
which  they  could  at  all  times  control. 

"  The  separation  of  the  Government  has  for  years  past  been 
the  cherished  purpose  of  the  Southern  leaders.  Baffled  in  1832 
by  the  stern,  patriotic  heroism  of  Andrew  Jackson,  they  sullenly 
acquiesced,  only  to  mature  their  diabolical  schemes,  and  await 
the  recurrence  of  a  more  favorable  opportunity  to  execute  them. 
Then  the  pretext  was  the  tariff;  and  Jackson,  after  foiling  their 
schemes  of  nullification  and  disunion,  with  prophetic  perspicacity 
warned  the  country  against  the  renewal  of  their  efforts  to  dis- 
member the  Government. 

"  In  a  letter  dated  May  1, 1833,  to  the  Rev.  A.  J.  Crawford,  after 
demonstrating  the  heartless  insincerity  of  the  Southern  nullifiers,  he 
said,  '  Therefore  the  tariff  was  only  a  pretext,  and  disunion  and 
Southern  Confederacy  the  real  object.  The  next  pretext  will  be 
the  negro  or  slavery  question.'  Time  has  fully  verified  this  pre- 
diction ;  and  we  have  now  not  only  '  the  negro  or  slavery  question ' 
as  the  pretext,  but  the  real  cause  of  the  Rebellion ;  and  both  must 
go  down  together.  It  is  vain  to  attempt  to  reconstruct  the  Union 
with  the  distracting  element  of  slavery  in  it.  Experience  has 
demonstrated  its  incompatibility  with  free  and  republican  govern- 
ments, and  it  would  be  unwise  and  unjust  longer  to  continue  it  as 
one  of  the  institutions  of  our  country.  While  it  remained  subor- 
dinate to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  I  yielded 
to  it  my  support ;  but  when  it  became  rebellious,  and  attempted  to 
rise  above  the  Government  and  control  its  action,  I  threw  my 
humble  influence  against  it. 

"  The  authority  of  the  Government  is  supreme,  and  will  admit 
of  no  rivalry.  No  institution  can  rise  above  it,  whether  it  be 
slavery  or  any  other  organized  power.  In  our  happy  form  of  gov- 
ernment, all  must  be  subordinate  to  the  will  of  the  people,  when 
reflected  through  the  Constitution,  and  laws  made  pursuant 
thereto,  State  or  Federal.     This  great  principle  lies  at  the  foun- 


454  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

dation  of  every  government,  and  cannot  be  disregarded  without 
the  destruction  of  the  Government  itself. 

"  In  accepting  the  nomination,  I  might  here  close  ;  but  I  cannot 
forego  the  opportunity  of  saying  to  my  old  friends  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  proper,  with  whom  I  have  so  long  and  pleasantly  been 
associated,  that  the  hour  has  now  come  when  that  great  party 
can  vindicate  its  devotion  to  true  Democratic  policy,  and  measures 
of  expediency.  The  war  is  a  war  of  great  principles.  It  involves 
the  supremacy  and  life  of  the  Government  itself  If  the  Rebellion 
triumph,  free  government,  North  and  South,  fails.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Government  is  successful,  —  as  I  do  not  doubt  that  it 
will  be,  —  its  destiny  is  fixed,  its  basis  is  permanent  and  enduring, 
and  its  career  of  honor  and  glory  is  but  just  begun.  In  a  great 
contest  like  this  for  the  existence  of  free  government,  the  path  of 
duty  is  patriotism  and  principle. 

"  This  is  not  the  hour  for  strife  and  division  among  ourselves. 
Such  differences  of  opinion  only  encourage  the  enemy,  prolong 
the  war,  and  waste  the  country.  Unity  of  action,  and  concentration 
of  power,  should  be  our  watchword  and  rallying- cry.  This  accom- 
plished, the  time  will  rapidly  approach  when  the  armies  in  the 
field — that  great  power  of  the  Rebellion  —  will  be  broken  and 
crushed  by  our  gallant  officers  and  brave  soldiers ;  and,  ere  long 
they  will  return  to  their  homes  and  firesides,  to  resume  the  avoca- 
tions of  peace,  with  the  proud  consciousness  that  they  have  aided 
in  the  noble  work  of  re-establishing  upon  a  surer  and  more  perma- 
nent basis  the  great  temple  of  American  freedom." 

These  are  surely  noble  truths,  nobly  uttered.  They  met  with 
a  cordial  response  in  every  loyal  heart.  Every  sentence  elevated 
Andrew  Johnson  in  the  estimation  of  the  American  people.  The 
names  of  Lincoln  and  Johnson  were  not  only  placed  upon  the 
same  ticket,  but  at  the  fireside,  and  from  the  church,  prayers  of 
gratitude  ascended  to  God  that  he  had  raised  up  a  Southern  man 
to  co-operate  with  our  own  noble  son  of  the  West  in  the  protection 
and  redemption  of  our  country. 

These  feelings  were  increased  to  enthusiasm  by  an  event  which 
took  place  a  few  months  after  the  date  of  this  letter. 

On  the  24th  of  October,  1864,  Gov.  Johnson  addressed  an  im- 
mense assemblage  of  the  colored  people  of  Nashville  in  a  speech 
of  extraordinary  eloquence  and  power.  We  give  it  here,  some- 
what abbreviated  from  the  admirable  report  furnished  by  a  cor- 


ANDREW  JOHNSON:  455 

respondent  of  "  The  Cincinnati  Gazette."  Gov.  Johnson  spoke 
from  the  steps  leading  from  Cedar  Street  to  the  State-house 
yard.  The  whole  street  was  packed  with  the  densest  mass  of 
human  beings ;  the  great  proportion  of  them,  men,  women  and 
children,  being  the  dusky-hued  sons  and  daughters  of  bondage. 
The  State-house  yard,  and  also  the  great  stone  wall  which  sepa- 
rated it  from  the  street,  were  covered  with  the  multitude.  It 
was  in  the  evening,  and  many  torches  threw  a  weird-like  light 
over  the  scene.  The  excitement  was  so  intense,  that  there  was 
almost  breathless  silence.  In  tones  which  the  sublimity  of  the 
occasion  rendered  deep  and  tremulous,  the  governor  began:  — 

"  Colored  men  of  Nashville,  you  have  all  heard  the  President's 
proclamation,  by  which  he  announced  to  the  world  that  the  slaves 
in  a  large  portion  of  the  seceded  States  were  thenceforth  a^d 
forever  free.  For  certain  reasons  which  seemed  wise  to  the 
President,  the  benefits  of  that  proclamation  did  not  extend  to  you 
or  to  your  native  State.  Many  of  you  were  consequently  left  in 
bondage.  The  taskmaster's  scourge  was  not  yet  broken,  and  the 
fetters  still  galled  your  limbs.  Gradually  the  iniquity  has  been 
passing  away ;  but  the  hour  has  come  when  the  last  vestiges  of  it 
must  be  removed. 

"Consequently,  I  too,  standing  here  upon  the  steps  of  the  Capi- 
tol, with  the  past  history  of  the  State  to  witness,  the  present 
condition  to  guide,  and  its  future  to  encourage  me,  —  I,  Andrew 
Johnson,  do  hereby  proclaim  freedom,  full,  broad,  and  uncondition- 
al, to  every  man  in  Tennessee." 

It  was  one  of  those  moments  when  the  speaker  seems  inspired, 
and  when  his  audience,  catching  the  inspiration,  rises  to  his  level, 
and  becomes  one  with  him.  Strangely  as  some  of  the  words  of 
this  immortid  utterance  sounded  to  those  uncultivated  ears,  not 
one  of  them  was  misunderstood.  With  breathless  attention,  these 
sons  of  bondage  hung  upon  each  syllable.  Each  individual 
seemed  carved  in  stone  until  the  last  word  of  the  grand  climax 
was  reached,  and  then  the  scene  which  followed  beggars  all 
description.  One  simultaneous  roar  of  approval  and  delight  burst 
from  three  thousand  throats.  Flags,  banners,  torches,  and  trans- 
parencies were  waved  wildly  over  the  throng,  or  flung  aloft  in 
the  ecstasy  of  joy.  Drums,  fifes,  and  trumpets  added  to  the  uproar ; 
and  the  mighty  tumult  of  this  great  mass  of  human  beings,  re- 
joicing for  their  race,  woke  up   the    slumbering  echoes  of  the 


456  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Capitol,  vibrated  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  city, 
rolled  over  the  sluggish  waters  of  the  Cumberland,  and  rang  out 
far  into  the  night  beyond. 

There  were  in  the  vicinity  of  Nashville  two  slaveholders  of 
immense  wealth.  Their  princely  estates  spread  over  thousands 
of  acres,  and  were  tilled  by  hundreds  of  unpaid  bondmen.  The 
old  feudal  barons  did  not  wield  more  despotic  power  than  Cockrill 
and  Harding  wielded  over  their  cabined  slaves.  Both  of  these 
men  were,  of  course,  intense  rebels.  Their  names  were  every- 
where prominent,  and  their  great  wealth  gave  them  vast  influence 
in  the  State.     In  allusion  to  them,  Gov.  Johnson  continued  :  — 

"  I  am  no  agrarian.  I  wish  to  see  secured  to  every  man,  rich 
or  poor,  the  fruits  of  his  honest  industry,  effort,  or  toil.  I  want 
ectch  man  to  feel  that  what  he  has  gained  by  his  own  skill  or 
talent  or  exertion  is  rightfully  his,  and  his  alone  :  but  if,  through  an 
iniquitous  system,  a  vast  amount  of  wealth  has  been  accumulated 
in  the  hands  of  one  man,  or  a  few  men,  then  that  result  is  wrong: 
and  the  sooner  we  can  right  it,  the  better  for  all  concerned.  It 
is  wrong  that  Mack  Cockrill  and  W.  D.  Harding,  by  means  of 
forced  and  unpaid  labor,  should  have  monopolized  so  large  a  share 
of  the  lands  and  wealth  of  Tennessee  ;  and  I  say,  that  if  their 
immense  plantations  were  divided  up,  and  parcelled  out  amongst 
a  number  of  free,  industrious,  and  honest  f  irmers,  it  would  give 
more  good  citizens  to  the  Commonwealth,  increase  the  wages  of 
our  mechanics,  enrich  the  markets  of  our  city,  enliven  all  the 
arteries  of  trade,  improve  society,  and  conduce  to  the  greatness 
and  glory  of  the  State. 

"The  representatives  of  this  corrupt,  and,  if  you  will  permit  me 
almost  to  swear  a  little,  this  damnable  aristocracy,  taunt  us  witli 
our  desire  to  see  justice  done,  and  charge  us  with  favoring  negro 
equality.  Of  all  living  men,  they  should  be  the  last  to  mouth  that 
phrase ;  and,  even  when  uttered  in  their  hearing,  it  should  cause 
their  cheeks  to  tinge,  and  burn  with  shame.  Negro  equality 
indeed  !  Why,  pass  any  day  along  the  sidewalk  of  Higli  Street, 
where  these  aristocrats  more  particularly  dwell, — these  aristo- 
crats, whose  sons  are  now  in  the  bands  of  guerillas  and  cr.t- 
throats  who  prowl  and  rob  and  murder  around  our  city,  —  pass 
by  thrir  dwellings,  I  say,  and  you  will  see  as  many  mulatto  as 
negro  children,  the  former  bearing  an  unmistakable  resemblance 
to  their  aristocratic  owners. 


ANDREW  JOHNSON:  457 

"  Colored  men  of  Tennessee,  this,  too,  shall  cease.  Your  wives 
and  daughters  shall  no  longer  be  dragged  into  a  concubinage, 
compared  to  which  polygamy  is  a  virtue,  to  satisfy  the  brutal 
lusts  of  slaveholders  and  overseers.  Henceforth  the  sanctity  of 
God's  law  of  marriage  shall  be  respected  in  your  persons,  and 
the  great  State  of  Tennessee  shall  no  more  give  her  sanction  t  i 
your  degradation  and  your  shame." 

"  Thank  God,  thank  God  !  "  came  from  the  lips  of  a  thousand 
women,  who,  in  their  own  persons,  had  experienced  the  iniquity 
of  the  man-seller's  code.  "  Thank  God  !  "  fervently  echoed  the  fa- 
thers, husbands,  and  brothers  of  these  women. 

''And  if  the  law  protects  you,"  he  continued,  "in  the  posses- 
sion of  your  wives  and  children,  if  the  law  shields  those  whom 
you  hold  dear  from  the  unlawful  grasp  of  lust,  will  you  endeavor 
to  be  true  to  yourselves,  and  shun,  as  it  were  death  itself,  the 
path  of  lewdness,  crime,  and  vice  ?  " 

"  We  will,  we  will !  "  cried  the  assembled  thousands ;  and.  join- 
ing in  a  sublime  and  tearful  enthusiasm,  another  mighty  shout 
went  up  to  heaven. 

"  Looking  at  this  vast  crowd,"  the  governor  continued,  "  and 
reflecting  through  what  a  storm  of  persecution  and  obloquy  they 
are  compelled  to  pass,  I  am  almost  induced  to  wish,  that,  as  in  the 
days  of  old,  a  Moses  might  arise,  who  should  lead  them  safely  to 
their  promised  land  of  freedom  and  happiness." 

"  You  are  our  Moses  ! "  shouted  several  voices  ;  and  the  excla- 
mation Avas  caught  up  and  cheered  until  the  Capitol  rang  again. 

"  God,"  continued  the  governor,  "  no  doubt  has  prepared  some- 
where an  instrument  for  the  great  work  he  designs  to  perform 
in  behalf  of  this  outraged  people;  and,  in  due  time,  your  leader 
will  come  forth,  your  Moses  will  be  revealed  to  you." 

"  "We  want  no  Moses  but  you  ! "  again  shouted  the  crowd. 

"Well,  then,"  Gov.  Johnson  replied,  "humble  and  unworthy 
as  I  am,  if  no  other  better  shall  be  found,  I  will  indeed  be  your 
Moses,  and  lead  you  through  the  Red  Sea  of  war  and  bondage 
to  a  fairer  future  of  liberty  and  peace.  I  speak  now  as  one 
who  feels  the  world  his  countr}',  and  all  who  love  equal  rights 
his  friends.  I  speak,  too,  as  a  citizen  of  Tennessee.  I  am  here  on 
my  own  soil ;  and  here  I  mean  to  stay,  and  fight  this  great  battle 
of  truth  and  justice  to  a  triumphant  end.  Rebellion  and  slavery 
shall,  by  God's  good   help,  no  longer  pollute  our  State.     Loyal 

58 


458  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

men,  whether  white  or  bhick,  shall  alone  control  her  destinies  ; 
and,  when  this  strife  in  which  we  are  all  engaged  is  past,  I  trust, 
I  know,  we  shall  have  a  better  state  of  things,  and  shall  all  rejoice 
that  honest  labor  reaps  the  fruit  of  its  own  industry,  and  that 
every  man  has  a  fair  chance  in  the  race  of  life." 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  enthusiasm  which  followed  these 
words.  Joy  beamed  in  every  countenance.  Tears  and  laughter 
followed  each  other  in  swift  succession.  The  great  throng  moved 
and  swayed  back  and  forth  in  the  intensity  of  emotion,  and  shout 
after  shout  rent  the  air.  This  was  one  of  those  scenes  of  moral 
sublimity  which  few  on  earth  have  ever  been  permitted  to  wit- 
ness. The  speaker  seemed  inspired  with  very  unusual  power  to 
meet  the  grandeur  of  the  occasion  and  the  theme.  As  he  de- 
scended from  the  steps  of  the  Capitol  in  this  proudest,  holiest 
hour  of  his  life,  the  dense  throng  parted,  as  by  magic,  to  let 
him  tlirough  ;  and,  all  that  night  long,  his  name  was  mingled  with 
the  curses  and  the  execrations  of  the  traitor  and  oppressor, 
and  with  the  blessings  of  the  oppressed  and  the  poor.  Gen.  Sher- 
man was  then  sweeping  through  the  very  heart  of  the  rebelHous 
States,  and  Grant  was  thundering  at  the  gates  of  Petersburg  and 
Richmond.  Tennessee*had  returned  to  her  allegiance,  revised  her 
Constitution,  and  abolished  slavery. 

Mr.  Johnson  has  always  been  a  little  boastful  of  his  lowly  origin. 
Certainly  it  is  to  his  credit,  that,  from  a  position  so  extremely 
obscure,  he  should  have  raised  himself  to  stations  of  so  much 
eminence.  In  a  speech  delivered  at  Nashville  soon  after  his  nomi- 
nation, he  said,  — 

"  In  accepting  the  nomination,  I  shall  stand  on  the  principles  I 
here  enunciate,  let  the  consequences  for  good  or  for  evil  be  what 
they  may.  A  distinguished  Georgian  told  me  in  Washington,  after 
the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  just  before  his  inauguration,  that 
the  people  of  Georgia  would  not  consent  to  be  governed  by  a  man 
who  had  risen  from  the  ranks.  It  was  one  of  the  principal  objec- 
tions of  the  people  of  the  South  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  What  will  they 
do  now,  when  they  have  to  take  two  rulers  who  have  risen  from 
the  ranks  ?  This  aristocracy  is  antagonistic  to  the  principles  of 
free  democratic  government,  and  the  time  has  come  when  it  must 
give  up  the  ghost.  The  time  has  come  when  this  rebellious  ele- 
ment of  aristocracy  must  be  punished. 

"  The  day  when  they  could  talk  of  their  three  or  four  thousand 


ANDREW  JOUNSOIT.  459 

acres  of  land,  tilled  by  their  hundreds  of  negroes,  is  past ;  and  the 
hour  for  the  division  of  these  rich  lands  among  the  energetic  and 
laboriug  masses  is  at  hand.  The  field  is  to  be  thrown  open;  and  I 
now  invite  the  enei'getic  and  industrious  of  the  North  to  come 
and  occupy  it,  and  apply  here  the  same  skill  and  industry  which 
has  made  the  North  so  rich.  I  am  for  putting  down  the  aristoc- 
racy, and  dividing  out  their  possessions  among  the  worthier  labor- 
ers of  any  and  all  colors." 

The  election  which  took  place  en  the  14th  of  November,  18G4, 
resulted  in  the  choice  of  Lincoln  and  Johnson  by  one  of  the 
largest  majorities  ever  given.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1865,  Mr. 
Johnson  was  inaugurated  Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 
The  clouds  of  gloom  which  had  so  long  overhung  the  land  were 
beginning  to  break.  Grant  and  Sherman  were  dealing  the  armies 
of  Rebellion  annihilating  blows.  On  the  3d  of  April,  there  was 
a  meeting  in  Washington  to  rejoice  over  the  glad  tidings  of  the 
evacuation  of  Petersburg  and  Richmond.  In  the  address  which 
Vice-l^resideut  Johnson  made  at  that  meeting,  he  said,  — 

''  At  the  time  that  the  traitors  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  plotted  against  the  Government,  and  entered  into  a  conspir- 
acy more  foul,  more  execrable,  and  more  odious,  than  that  of  Cati- 
line against  the  Romans,  I  happened  to  be  a  member  of  that  body, 
and,  as  to  loyalty,  stood  solitary  and  alone  among  the  senators  from 
the  Southern  States.  I  was  then  and  there  called  upon  to  know 
what  I  would  do  Avith  such  traitors ;  and  I  want  to  repeat  my  re- 
ply here. 

''I  said,  if  we  had  an  Andrew  Jackson,  he  would  hang  them  as 
high  as  Ilaman.  But  as  he  is  no  more,  and  sleeps  in  his  grave,  in 
his  own  beloved  State,  where  traitors  and  treason  have  even  in- 
sulted his  tomb  and  the  very  earth  that  covers  his  remains,  humble 
as  I  am,  when  you  ask  me  what  I  would  do,  my  reply  is,  I  would 
arrest  them  ;  I  would  try  them ;  I  would  convict  them  ;  and  I 
would  hang  them. 

"  Since  the  world  began,  there  has  never  been  a  rebellion  of 
such  gigantic  proportions,  so  infamous  in  character,  so  diabolical 
in  motive,  so  entirely  disregardful  of  the  laws  of  civilized  war.  It 
has  introduced  the  most  savage  mode  of  warfare  ever  practised 
upon  earth. 

"  One  word  more,  and  I  am  done.  It  is  this  :  I  am  in  favor  of 
leniency  ;  but,  in  my  opinion,  evil-doers  should  be  punished.    Trca- 


460  LIVES  OF  TUE  PRESIDENTS. 

son  is  the  highest  crime  known  in  the  catalogue  of  crimes;  and 
for  him  that  is  guilty  of  it,  for  him  that  ia  willing  to  lift  his  impious 
hand  against  the  authority  of  the  nation,  I  would  say  death  is  too 
ea:\v  a  j)unishmont.  My  notion  is,  that  treason  must  be  made  odious, 
and  traitors  must  be  punished  and  impoverished,  their  social  power 
broken :  they  must  be  made  to  feel  the  penalty  of  their  crime. 
You,  my  friends,  have  traitors  in  your  very  midst,  and  treason 
needs  rebuke  and  punishment  here  as  well  as  elsewhere.  It  is 
not  the  men  in  the  field  who  are  the  greatest  traitors :  it  is  the 
men  who  have  encouraged  them  to  imperil  their  lives,  while  they 
themselves  have  remained  at  home,  expending  their  means  and 
exerting  all  their  power  to  overthrow  the  Government.  Hence  I 
say  this,  '  The  halter  to  intelligent,  influential  traitors  ! ' 

"  To  the  honest  boy,  to  the  deluded  man,  who  has  been  deceived 
into  the  rebel  ranks,  I  would  extend  leniency  ;  but  the  leaders  I 
would  hang.  I  hold,  too,  that  wealthy  traitors  should  be  made 
to  remunerate  those  men  who  have  suffered  as  a  consequence  of 
their  crime." 

The  great  rebel  arm}'  under  Gen.  Lee  surrendered  on  the  9th  of 
April,  1865.  Five  days  after  this,  on  the  14th,  while  the  bells 
of  joy  were  ringing  all  over  the  nation  at  the  utter  overthrow 
of  the  Rebellion,  the  bullet  of  the  assassin  pierced  the  brain  of 
President  Lincoln.  On  the  morning  of  the  15th,  the  fearful 
tiding>^  quivered  along  the  wires,  creating  almost  universal  con- 
sternation and  grief,  Abraham  Lincoln  died  this  morning  at  twenty- 
two  mimdes  after  seven  o'clock  ! 

Immediately  upon  his  death,  Hon.  James  Speed,  Attorney-Gen- 
eral of  the  United  States,  waited  upon  Vice-President  Johnson 
with  the  following  official  communication  :  — 

Washington  City,  April  15,  1865. 
AxDHKw  Johnson,   Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 

Sir,  —  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States,  was 
shot  by  an  assassin  last  evening,  at  Ford's  Theatre,  in  this  city, 
and  died  at  the  hour  of  twenty-two  minutes  after  seven  o'clock 
this  morning.  About  the  same  time  at  which  the  President  was 
shot,  an  assassin  entered  the  sick-chamber  of  Hon.  W.  H.  Seward, 
Secretary  of  State,  and  stabbed  him  in  several  places  in  the  throat, 
nock,  and  face,  severely,  if  not  mortally,  wounding  him.     Other 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  461 

members  of  the  Secretary's  family  were  dangerously  wjunded  by 
the  assassin  while  making  his  escape. 

By  the  death  of  President  Lincoln,  the  ofBce  of  President  has 
devolved,  under  the  Constitution,  upon  you.  The  emergency  of 
the  Government  demands  that  you  should  immediately  qualify 
yourself  according  to  the  requirements  of  the  Constitution,-  and 
enter  upon  the  duties  of  President  of  the  United  States.  If  you 
will  please  make  known  your  pleasure,  such  arrangements  as  you 
deem  proper  will  be  made. 

Your  obedient  servants, 

HUGH  M'CULLOCH,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War. 
GIDEON  WELLES,  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
WILLIAM  DENNISON,  Postmaster-General. 
J.  P.  USHER,  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 
JAMES  SPEED,  Attorney- General. 

At  ten  o'clock,  but  little  more  than  two  and  a  half  hours  after  the 
death  of  the  President,  a  small  but  august  assemblage  met  at  the 
private  apartments  of  Mr.  Johnson,  and  Chief  Justice  Chase 
administered  to  him  the  oath  of  office.  The  ceremonies  were 
brief,  but  invested  with  unusual  solemnity,  in  consequence  of  the 
sad  event  which  rendered  them  necessary. 

When  Mr.  Johnson  was  inaugurated  Vice-President,  an  unto- 
ward event  occurred,  which  excited  great  pain  and  anxiety 
throughout  the  nation.  It  was  an  event  which  attracted  such 
universal  attention  and  such  severity  of  comment  at  the  time,  that 
historic  fidelity  requires  that  it  should  be  alluded  to.  Mr.  Johnson 
had  been  very  sick  with  typhoid-fever,  and  was  in  a  state  of 
extreme  debility.  He  could  not  walk  his  chamber-floor  without 
tottering.  His  physician  judged  it  imprudent  for  him  to  attempt 
to  make  his  appearance  at  the  inauguration  ;  but  his  anxiety  was 
so  great  to  attend  ceremonies  in  which  he  was  to  assume  such 
momentous  responsibilities,  that,  by  the  reluctant  consent  of  the 
physician,  he  went,  taking  a  stimulant  to  strengthen  him  for  the 
hour.  The  stimulant  was  not  a  strong  one  ;  but,  in  his  weak  and 
fevered  state,  it  so  overcame  him,  that  in  the  Senate  Chamber, 
before  the  assembled  dignitaries  of  our  own  and  other  lands,  in 
his  inaugural  address,  he  uttered  incoherent  thoughts  which 
mantled  the  cheek  of  the  nation  with  a  blush. 

A  generous  people  promptly,  gladly,  accepted  the  explanation. 


462  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

The  aflair,  for  a  moment  so  humiliating  to  national  pride,  was  for- 
given and  forgotten.  With  confiding  trust,  Andrew  Johnson  was 
received  as  the  worthy  successor  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  loved 
and  the  lamented.  Seldom,  if  ever,  has  a  President  entered  upon 
his  office  so  deeply  enshrined  in  the  affections  and  confidence  of 
the  Christian  people  all  over  our  land  as  did  President  Johnson. 
Two  days  after  he  had  assumed  the  duties  of  his  responsible  posi- 
tion, a  delegation  of  citizens  from  Illinois,  who  were  about  to  ac- 
company the  remains  of  President  Lincoln  to  the  burial-ground  in 
Springfield,  called  upon  President  Johnson  to  pay  him  their  re- 
spects.    Gov.  Oglesby,  in  behalf  of  the  delegation,  said, — 

"  I  take  much  pleasure  in  presenting  to  you  this  delegation  of 
the  citizens  of  Illinois,  representing  almost  every  portion  of  the 
State.  We  are  drawn  together  by  the  mournful  events  of  the 
past  few  days  to  give  some  feeble  expression,  by  appropriate  and 
respectful  ceremonies,  to  the  feelings  we,  in  common  with  the 
whole  nation,  realize  as  pressing  us  to  the  earth.  We  thought  it 
not  inappropriate,  before  we  should  separate,  even  in  this  sad 
hour,  to  seek  this  interview  with  your  Excellency,  that  while  the 
bleeding  heart  is  pouring  out  its  mournful  anguish  over  the  death 
of  our  beloved  late  President,  the  idol  of  our  State  and  the  pride 
of  our  whole  country,  we  may  earnestly  express  to  you,  the  living 
head  of  this  nation,  our  deliberate,  full,  and  abiding  confidence  in 
you,  as  the  one  who,  in  these  dark  hours,  must  bear  upon  youiself 
the  mighty  responsibility  of  maintaining,  defending,  and  directing 
its  affairs. 

"  The  record  of  your  whole  past  life,  familiar  to  all,  the  splen- 
dor of  your  recent  gigantic  efforts  to  stay  the  hand  of  treason 
and  assassination,  and  restore  the  flag  to  the  uttermost  bounds  of 
the  Republic,  assure  that  noble  State  which  we  represent,  and, 
we  believe,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  that  we  may  safely 
trust  our  destinies  in  your  hands.  And  to  this  end  we  come  in 
the  name  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  and,  we  confidently  believe,  fully 
and  faithfully  expressing  the  wishes  of  our  people,  to  present  abd 
pledge  to  you  the  cordial,  earnest,  and  unremitting  purpose  of  our 
State  to  give  your  administration  the  strong  support  we  have 
heretofore  given  to  the  administration  of  our  lamented  late  Presi- 
dent, the  policy  of  whom  we  have  heretofore,  do  now,  and  shall 
continue  to  indorse." 

President  Johnson,  in  his  reply,  said,  "  I  have  listened  with  pro- 


A  ND  HE  W '  JOHNSON.  463 

found  emotion  to  the  kind  words  you  have  addressed  to  me.  The 
visit  of  this  large  delegation  to  speak  to  me,  through  you,  sir, 
these  words  of  encouragement,  I  had  not  anticipated.  In  the 
midst  of  the  saddening  circumstances  which  surround  us,  and  the 
immense  responsibility  thrown  upon  me,  an  expression  of  the  con- 
fidence of  individuals,  and  still  more  of  an  influential  body  like 
that  before  me,  representing  a  great  commonwealth,  cheers  and 
strengthens  my  heavily-burdened  mind.  I  am  at  a  loss  for  words 
to  respond.  In  an  hour  like  this  of  deepest  sorrow,  were  it  pos- 
sible to  embody  in  words  the  feelings  of  my  bosom,  I  could  not 
command  my  lips  to  utter  them.  Perhaps  the  best  reply  I  could 
make,  and  the  one  most  readily  appropriate  to  your  kind  assurance 
of  confidence,  would  be  to  receive  them  in  silence. 

"  The  throbbings  of  my  heart,  since  the  sad  catastrophe  which 
has  appalled  us,  cannot  be  reduced  to  words;  and  oppressed  as  I 
am  with  the  new  and  great  responsibility  which  has  devolved 
upon  me,  and  saddened  with  grief,  I  can  with  difficulty  respond  to 
you  at  all.  Bat  I  cannot  permit  such  expressions  of  the  confi- 
dence reposed  in  me  by  the  people  to  pass  without  acknowledg- 
ment. Sprung  from  the  people  myself,  every  pulsation  in  the 
popular  heart  finds  an  immediate  answer  in  my  own.  Your  words 
of  countenance  and  encouragement  sank  deep  into  my  heart ;  and, 
were  I  even  a  coward,  I  could  not  but  gather  from  them  strength 
to  carry  out  my  convictions  of  right.  Thus  feeling,  I  shall  enter 
upon  the  discharge  of  my  great  duty  firmly,  steadfastly,  if  not 
with  the  signal  ability  exhibited  by  my  predecessor,  which  is  still 
fresh  in  our  sorrowing  minds. 

''  In  what  I  say  on  this  occasion,  I  shall  indulge  in  no  petty 
spirit  of  anger,  no  feeling  of  revenge.  But  we  have  beheld  a 
notable  event  in  the  history  of  mankind.  In  the  midst  of  the 
American  people,  where  every  citizen  is  taught  to  obey  law  and 
observe  the  rules  of  Christian  conduct,  our  Chief  Magistrate,  the 
beloved  of  all  hearts,  has  been  assassinated ;  and  when  we  trace 
this  crime  to  its  cause,  when  we  remember  the  source  whence 
the  assassin  drew  his  inspiration,  and  then  look  at  the  result,  we 
stand  yet  more  astounded  at  this  most  barbarous,  most  diabolical 
assassination.  Such  a  crime  as  the  murder  of  a  great  and  good 
man,  honored  and  revered,  the  beloved  and  the  hope  of  the  peo- 
ple, springs  not  alone  from  a  solitary  individual  of  ever  so  desper- 
ate wickedness.    We  can  trace  its  cause  through  successive  steps, 


464  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

without  my  enumerating  them  here,  back  to  that  source  which  is 
the  spring  of  all  our  woes. 

''  No  one  can  say,  that,  if  the  perpetrator  of  this  fiendish  deed 
be  arrested,  he  should  not  undergo  the  extremest  penalty  the  law 
knows  for  crime.  None  will  say  that  mercy  should  interpose. 
But  is  he  alone  guilty  ?  Here,  gentlemen,  you  perhaps  expect 
me  to  present  some  indication  of  my  future  policy  ?  One  thing 
I  will  say.  Every  era  teaches  its  lesson.  The  times  we  live  in 
are  not  without  instruction.  The  American  people  must  be 
taught,  if  they  do  not  already  feel,  that  treason  is  a  crime,  and 
must  be  punished  ;  that  the  Government  will  not  always  bear 
with  its  enemies  ;  that  it  is  strong,  not  only  to  protect,  but  to 
punish. 

"When  we  turn  to  the  criminal  code,  and  examine  the  catalogue 
of  crimes,  we  find  there  arson  laid  down  as  a  crime,  with  its  ap- 
propriate penalty  ;  we  find  there  theft  and  robbery  and  murder 
given  as  crime ;  and  there,  too,  we  find  the  last  and  highest  of 
crimes,  treason.  With  other  and  inferior  offences  our  people  are 
familiar ;  but,  in  our  peaceful  history,  treason  has  been  almost  un- 
known. The  people  must  understand  that  it  is  the  blackest  of 
crimes,  and  that  it  will  be  severely  punished.  I  make  this  allu- 
sion, not  to  excite  the  already  exasperated  feelings  of  tlie  public, 
but  to  point  out  the  principles  of  public  justice  which  should 
guide  our  action  at  this  particular  juncture,  and  which  accord 
with  sound  public  morals.  Let  it  be  engraven  on  every  heart 
that  treason  is  a  crime,  and  that  traitors  shall  suffer  its  pen- 
alty. 

"  While  we  are  appalled,  overwhelmed,  at  the  fall  of  one  man  in 
our  midst  by  the  hand  of  a  traitor,  shall  we  allow  men,  I  care  not 
by  what  weapons,  to  attempt  the  life  of  a  State  with  impunity  ? 
AVhile  we  strain  our  minds  to  comprehend  the  enormity  of  this 
assassination,  shall  we  allow  the  nation  to  be  assassinated  ?  I 
speak  in  no  spirit  of  unkindness.  I  do  not  harbor  bitter  or  re- 
vengeful feelings  towards  any.  I  know  that  men  love  to  have 
their  actions  spoken  of  in  connection  with  acts  of  mercy ;  and 
how  easy  it  is  to  yield  to  this  impulse  !  But  we  must  not  forget 
that  what  may  be  mercy  to  the  individual  is  cruelty  to  the  State. 
In  the  exercise  of  mercy,  there  should  be  no  doubt  left  that  this 
high  prerogative  is  not  used  to  relieve  a  few  at  the  expense  of  the 
many.     Be  assured  that  I  shall  never  forget  that  I  am  not  to  ccn- 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  4G5 

suit  my  own  feelings  alone,  but  to  give  an  account  to  the  whole 
people. 

"  In  regard  to  my  future  course,  I  will  now  make  no  professions, 
no  pledges.  I  have  long  labored  for  the  amelioration  and  eleva- 
tion of  the  great  mass  of  mankind.  I  believe  that  government 
was  made  for  man,  not  man  for  government.  This  struggle  of  the 
people  against  the  most  gigantic  rebellion  the  world  ever  saw  has 
demonstrated  that  the  attachment  of  the  people  to  their  Govern- 
ment is  the  strongest  national  defence  human  wisdom  can  devise. 
My  past  life,  especially  m}^  course  during  the  present  unholy  Re- 
bellion, is  before  you.  I  have  no  principles  to  retract.  I  have 
no  professions  to  offer.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  anticipate  the  fu- 
ture. As  events  occur,  and  it  becomes  necessary  for  me  to  act,  I 
shall  dispose  of  each  as  it  arises." 

A  nation  might  well  be  proud  of  a  ruler  with  so  noble  a  record, 
cherishing  such  sentiments,  and  capable  of  expressing  them  with 
so  much  force  and  eloquence.  In  conformity  with  these  princi- 
ples, the  very  large  majority  of  Congress,  both  the  Senate  and 
the  House,  began  to  adopt  those  measures  of  reconstruction 
through  which  the  States  which  had  been  in  rebellion  could  be 
restored  to  co-operation  in  the  government  of  the  Union.  The 
rebels  themselves  declared,  in  the  loudest  and  most  defiant  tones, 
that  they  were  conquered  only,  not  subdued;  that,  in  heart,  they 
were  as  relentless  and  determined  as  ever  ;  and  that,  having  failed 
upon  the  bloody  field,  they  would  renew  the  conflict,  as  of  old, 
upon  the  floor  of  Congress.  '  But  the  patriotic  country  felt  safe 
in  the  assurance  that  we  had  a  President  in  perfect  harmony 
Avith  the  noblest  Congress  which  had  ever  convened.  But,  to  the 
surprise  and  almost  the  consternation  of  both  Congress  and  the 
great  mass  of  the  people,  it  was  found  that  the  President,  through 
some  inexplicable  influence,  seemed  to  have  changed  his  views, 
and  was  opposing  vehemently,  and  with  mortifying  indecorum, 
those  measures  which  Congress,  with  the  general  approval  of  the 
loyal  population,  would  adopt,  to  protect  the  friends  of  the  Gov- 
ernment from  the  vengeance  of  unrepentant  rebels,  and  to  shield 
our  free  institutions  from  renewed  assaults. 

The  change  was  one  of  the  most  sudden  and  marvellous  on 
record.  Almost  in  an  hour,  the  rebels  and  their  sympathizers, 
who  had  been  burning  President  Johnson  in  effigy,  and  denoun- 
cing him  in  the  strongest  language  of  vituperation  which  contempt 

59 


466  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

and  rage  could  coin,  were  shouting  his  praises,  and  rushing  in 
from  all  quarters  to  greet  him  with  their  hosannas.  The  friends 
who  elected  him,  who  loved  him,  who  leaned  upon  him  for  their 
support,  were  struck  aghast.  For  a  time,  they  were  mute  in  grief. 
Then  came  remonstrance  and  the  angry  strife.  The  bitterness  of 
the  old  days  of  slavery  domination,  which  we  hoped  had  passed 
away  forever,  was  revived.  It  seemed  as  though  all  our  blood 
had  been  shed  and  our  treasure  expended  in  vain.  The  President 
urgently  advocated  measures  of  reconstruction,  which,  in  the 
judgment  of  Congress,  and  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  people  of 
the  Xorth,  would  place  the  Government  again  in  the  hands  of 
those  rebels  and  their  sympathizers  who  had  deluged  our  land  in 
blood,  and  swept  it  with  the  flames  of  war,  that  they  might  over- 
throw our  free  institutions,  and  establish  human  bondage  forever 
as  the  corner-stone  of  this  republic. 

The  great  question  upon  which  this  strife  arose  was,  "  Shall 
the  United-States  Government  extend  its  protection  to  all  loyal 
men,  without  distinction  of  race,  who,  during  the  Rebellion,  proved 
true  to  the  national  flag  ?  "  President  Johnson  is  understood  to 
assume  that  we  have  no  such  right :  that  we  must  leave  the  na- 
tion's defenders,  black  and  white,  in  the  Southern  States,  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  the  rebels  :  that  the  rebel  States  have  never 
been  out  of  the  Union,  have  never  forfeited  their  political  rights  ; 
and  that  if  they  now  meet,  and  elect  delegates  to  Congress,  we 
are  bound  to  receive  those  delegates  upon  their  oath  of  loyalty ; 
each  house  of  Congress,  of  course,  having  the  right  to  reject  or 
expel  any  member  who  is  personally  obnoxious. 

This  principle  of  reconstruction  is  revolting  to  the  conscience 
of  the  great  majority  of  Congress  and  of  the  loyal  North.  Mr. 
Peter  Cooper,  whose  virtues  have  given  him  a  national  fame, 
in  an  admirable  letter  of  respectfnl  yet  earnest  remonstrance  to 
President  Johnson,  says, — 

'•'  I,  with  thousands  of  others  who  labored  to  aid  the  Govern- 
ment in  putting  down  the  Rebellion,  would  have  rejoiced  if  Con- 
gress could  have  found  all  the  reports  of  the  continued  persecu- 
tion of  Union  men  throughout  the  South  to  be  groundless  and 
false. 

"  The  whole  Repubhcan  party  would  have  rejoiced  if  Congress 
could  have  found  it  safe  to  admit  the  members  ofl'ered  from  South- 
ern States  at  once  to  a  full  share  in  the  Government. 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  467 

"  This  being  my  wish  does  not  authorize  me  to  denounce  the 
majority  in  Congress,  and  accuse  them  of  being  radicals  and  trai- 
tors, '  hanging  on  the  skirts  of  a  Government  which  they  are  try- 
ing to  destroy.' 

"  It  was  said  of  old,  the  sin  of  ingratitude  is  worse  than  the  sin 
of  witchcraft. 

'^  To  my  mind,  our  nation  must  live  in  everlasting  infamy  if  we 
fail  to  secure  a  full  measure  of  justice  to  an  unfortunate  race  of 
men  who  were  originally  hunted  down  in  their  own  country,  and 
carried  off  and  sold,  like  beasts,  into  an  abject  slavery,  with  all 
their  posterity. 

"  This  enslaved  race  has  the  strongest  possible  claims  for  kind- 
ness, as  well  as  justice,  at  the  hands  of  the  people  and  govern- 
ment of  the  whole  country,  and  more  especially  from  the  people  of 
the  South.  These  unfortunate  slaves  have  done  a  great  portion 
of  the  labor  that  has  fed  and  clothed  the  whites  and  blacks  of  the 
Southern  country. 

"  As  true  as  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,  so  true  is  it  that 
we,  as  a  nation,  cannot  withhold  justice  and  equal  rights  from  a 
race  of  men  that  has  fought  and  bled  and  labored  to  defend  and 
protect  the  Union  of  the  States  in  the  hour  of  our  nation's  great- 
est extremity. 

"  The  enemies  of  our  country  and  government  are  now  trying 
to  persuade  the  community  to  believe  that  a  war  of  races  would 
result  from  giving  the  black  man  the  same  measure  of  justice  and 
rights  which  the  white  men  claim  for  themselves.  This  will  be 
found  to  be  a  groundless  fear.  Our  national  danger  will  always 
result  from  unequal  and  partial  laws.  We  cannot  make  laws 
which  will  oppress  and  keep  in  ignorance  the  poor,  without  bring- 
ing on  ourselves  and  our  country  the  just  judgment  of  a  righteous 
God,  who  will  reward  us  as  a  nation  according  to  our  works. 

"  I  indulge  the  hope  that  you  will  see,  before  it  is  entirely  too 
late,  the  terrible  danger  of  taking  council  with  Northern  men  in 
sympathy  with  the  rebels  who  fought  the  Government  with  all 
the  energy  of  desperation  to  accomplish  the  destruction  of  our 
Government,  instead  of  taking  counsel  with  those  friends  who 
elected  you,  —  friends  who  have  been  and  are  as  desirous  as  you 
can  possibly  be  to  secure  the  adoption  of  every  measure  calcu- 
lated to  promote  the  substantial  welfare  of  all  parts  of  our  com- 
mon country." 


468  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

As  to  the  question  whether  the  National  Government  has  the 
constitutional,  right  to  extend  its  protection  to  its  defenders  in  the 
several  States,  much  depends  upon  the  theory  which  one  adopts  in 
reference  to  the  war  of  the  Rebellion.  A  contest  of  arms  between 
an  established  and  recognized  government  and  a  military  force 
formed  by  a  combination  of  individual  citizens  is  civil  war.  The 
insurgents,  when  subdued  or  captured,  are  responsible  individually 
for  their  acts,  and  are  consequently  amenable  to  the  courts  of  law 
on  charges  of  treason  and  rebellion. 

A  contest  of  arms  between  any  government  and  a  military  force 
organized  under  the  authority  of  any  other  government,  exercising 
an  independent  sovereignty,  is  international  war.  The  persons 
engaged  in  the  military  operations  are  not  individually  responsi- 
ble for  their  acts  before  courts  of  justice  on  criminal  charges, 
but,  when  subdued  or  captured,  can  only  be  treated  as  prisoners 
of  war.  The  victorious  government  is,  however,  entitled  to  exer- 
cise over  the  one  that  is  subdued  the  rights  of  a  conqueror  as 
defined  by  the  laws  of  war. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  of  a  twofold  character. 
It  establishes  a  government  with  sovereign  powers  in'  respect  to 
certain  specified  interests,  and,  to  this  extent,  is  simply  a  consti- 
tution of  government  framed  by  a  single  people.  It  also  at  the 
same  time  includes  a  covenant  of  union  made  by  a  number  of 
separate  governments,  each  exercising  its  own  independent  sover- 
eignty in  respect  to  certain  other  interests  ;  and  to  this  extent  the 
act  is  of  the  nature  oi s^league  or  treaty,  binding  several  sovereign- 
ties to  the  fulfilment  of  certain  obligations  towards  each  other. 

In  case  of  hostilities  arising  among  the  parties  of  this  instru- 
ment, the  question  whether,  in  a  legal  point  of  view,  the  conflict 
is  to  be  regarded  as  a  civil  war  or  an  international  war,  in  respect 
to  its  character  and  effects,  will  depend  upon  the  nature  of  it  in 
relation  to  these  two  difierent  aspects  of  the  instruments  ;  that  is, 
whether  the  insurgents  act  in  an  individual  or  in  a  corporate 
^  capacity. 

If  it  is  a  contest  between  the  General  Government  and  a  force 
organized  by  individual  citizens,  it  is  an  insurrection,  or  civil  war. 
The  insurgents  taay  be  so  numerous  and  so  well  organized  as  to 
force  the  Government,  during  the  contest,  to  grant  them  belliger- 
ent rights;  but,  when  vanquished  or  captured,  they  are  amenable 
to  the  courts  of  law  on  charges  of  rebellion  or  treason. 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  469 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  admitted  by  the  North  to  be,  what 
the  South  claims  it  to  be,  a  contest  between  the  General  Govern- 
ment and  a  force  organized  by  and  acting  in  subordination  to  any 
one  or  more  of  the  State  governments,  under  proceedings  regu- 
larly taken  by  the  State  authorities,  in  the  manner  prescribed  by 
law,  then  it  is  of  the  nature  of  international  war,  in  so  far  as  that 
the  governments  which  inaugurate  it  assume  the  responsibility 
of  it,  and  those  acting  under  their  authority  are  personally  re- 
leased. They  can  only  be  treated,  when  vanquished  or  captured, 
as  prisoners  of  war.  The  victorious  governments  are  entitled  to 
exercise  over  the  States  that  are  vanquished  the  rights  of  con- 
querors, as  regulated  by  the  laws  of  war. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  the  latter  was  the  view  univer- 
sally taken  by  those  engaged  in  the  Rebellion.  They  formed  a 
government  with  its  constitution  and  all  its  organized  officers. 
They  unfurled  their  flag,  and  conscripted  their  soldiers.  They 
raised  large  armies,  and  issued  letters  of  marque.  They  sent 
their  ambassadors  to  knock  at  the  doors  of  other  governments  for 
admission.  In  point  of  fact,  they  sundered  all  their  relations  with 
the  National  Government,  and  seditiously,  illegally,  unconstitu- 
tionally, but  yet  really,  became  an  independent  government,  and 
maintained  that  independence  during  a  struggle  of  four  years' 
duration.  They  were  so  strong,  that  they  compelled  the  National 
Government  to  recognize  it  as  war,  to  exchange  prisoners,  and 
grant  other  belligerent  rights. 

At  length,  they  were  conquered.  Their  army  was  crushed ; 
their  piratic  navy  was  annihilated.  Their  constitution  and  laws 
vanished.  Their  flag  sank  into  the  dust.  Whatever  may  be  their 
individual  responsibility  as  rebels  in  organizing  this  hostile  gov- 
ernment, there  can  be  no  question  whatever  that  they  did,  in  fact, 
sunder  their  relations  with  the  National  Government ;  that  they 
did,  in  fact,  assume  and  exercise  the  functions  of  sovereignty ;  and 
that,  having  thus  been  vanquished,  the  victors  are  entitled  to 
exercise  over  them  tlie  rights  of  conquerors,  as  regulated  by  the 
laws  of  war. 

Within  the  territorial  limits  of  this  rebellious  nation,  there  were 
thousands  of  patriotic  white  men  who  remained  true  to  their 
country  and  its  flag.  In  consequence,  they  were  exposed  to 
every  conceivable  outrage.  Multitudes  of  them  were  scourged, 
shot,  and  hung.     There  were  some  millions  of  colored  men  who 


470  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

were  patriotic  to  their  hearts'  core.  The  object  of  the  Rebellion 
was  to  strengthen  the  chains  which  had  so  long  held  them  in  bond- 
age. The  result  of  the  Rebellion  was  to  break  those  chains,  and 
to  let  the  oppressed  go  free.  And  now  the  unrepentant  rebels 
are  exceedingly  exasperated  against  those  Union  white  men,  and 
those  patriots  of  African  descent  whose  sympathies  were  with  the 
National  Government ;  and  these  rebels  implore  the  Northern 
people  to  be  magnanimous,  and  to  interpose  no  obstacle  to  their 
wreaking  their  vengeance  upon  the  Union  people  of  the  South. 

This  is  the  great  question  of  reconstruction  which  is  now  agi- 
tating the  land.  President  Johnson  is  understood  to  advocate  the 
restoration  of  the  conquered  States  to  the  Union,  without  exact- 
ing from  them  any  pledges  whatever  which  will  protect  from  vio- 
lence the  friends  of  the  Union  within  their  borders.  He  is  under- 
stood to  assume  that  the  Rebellion  was  merely  a  series  of  illegal 
acts  of  private  individuals ;  that  the  States  in  which  the  Rebel- 
lion took  place,  were,  during  the  Rebellion,  completely  competent 
States  of  the  United  States  as  they  were  before  the  Rebellion, 
and  were  bound  by  all  the  obligations  which  the  Constitution  im- 
posed, and  entitled  to  all  its  privileges ;  and  that  now,  whenever 
representatives  appear  from  such  States  and  demand  admission, 
there  is  but  one  question  which  we  have  any  right  to  ,ask ;  and 
that  is,  "  Have  these  States  organized  governments  which  are  re- 
publican in  form  ?  "  It  is  said  that  each  house  of  Congress  can 
decide  respecting  the  individual  merits  of  the  representative 
who  claims  admission  to  their  body,  and  can  receive  or  reject  as 
it  pleases  ;  but,  as  to  the  governments  which  they  represent, 
"  how  they  were  formed,  under  what  auspices  they  were  formed, 
are  inquiries  with  which  Congress  has  no  concern.  The  right  of 
the  people  to  form  a  government  for  themselves  has  never  been 
questioned." 

It  seems  to  be  assumed,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  States  have 
never  rebelled :  individuals  only  have  committed  that  crime.  And 
then,  in  the  second  place,  it  is  assumed  that  these  individuals  have 
forfeited  nothing  by  their  treason ;  that  they  are  entitled  to  all  the< 
rights  and  privileges  which  they  ever  enjoyed ;  and  that  they  can 
send  their  representatives  to  Congress,  and  demand  admission  for 
them,  with  just  as  much  assurance  as  if  they  had  ever  remained 
loyal.  This  unconditional  admission  of  the  rebel  States,  without 
securing  in  advance  the  imperilled  rights  of  the  loyalists,  both 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  471 

white  and  black,  is  regarded  by  the  great  mass  of  the  Northern 
people  as  a  crime  which  would  justly  expose  the  nation  to  the 
scorn  of  the  world. 

In  September,  1866,  there  was  a  large  convention  in  Philadel- 
phia of  lotjal  men  from  all  the  States  which  had  been  in  rebellion. 
In  their  appeal  to  their  fellow-citizens  of  the  United  States,  they 
say,— 

"  The  representatives  of  eight  millions  of  American  citizens 
appeal  for  protection  and  justice  to  their  friends  and  brothers  in 
the  States  that  have  been  spared  the  cruelties  of  the  Rebellion 
and  the  direct  horrors  of  civil  war.  Here,  on  the  spot  where  free- 
dom was  proffered  and  pledged  by  the  fathers  of  the  Republic,  we 
implore  your  help  against  a  re-organized  oppression,  whose  sole 
object  is  to  remit  the  control  of  our  destinies  to  the  contrivers  of 
the  Rebellion  after  they  have  been  vanquished  in  honorable  bat- 
tle ;  thus  at  once  to  punish  us  for  our  devotion  to  our  country, 
and  intrench  themselves  in  the  official  fortifications  of  the  Gov- 
ernment." 

In  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  the  loyal  colored  popular 
tion  could  be  oppressed,  and,  while  nominally  free,  could  have 
burdens  imposed  upon  them  more  intolerable  than  they  ever  bore 
before,  the  following  statements  are  made :  — 

"  The  laws  passed  by  some  of  our  legislatures  provide  that  all 
persons  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits,  as  laborers,  shall  be 
required,  during  the  first  ten  days  of  the  month  of  January  of 
each  year,  to  make  contracts  for  the  ensuing  year ;  and,  in  case  of 
failure,  such  laborer  shall  be  arrested  by  the  civil  authorities,  and 
hired  out ;  and,  however  much  the  laborer  may  be  dissatisfied,  he 
dare  not  leave,  under  the  penalty  of  being  apprehended,  and  forced 
to  -labor  upon  the  public  works,  without  compensation,  until  he 
will  consent  to  return  to  his  employer.  It  is  punished  with  fine 
and  imprisonment  to  entice  or  persuade  away,  feed,  harbor,  or 
secrete,  any  such  laborer.  In  this  way  they  are  compelled  to  con- 
tract within  a  limit  of  ten  days,  punished  by  legal  enslavement  for 
violating  a  simple  contract,  and  prevented  from  obtaining  shelter, 
food,  or  employment.  By  severest  penalties,  he  has  been  made  a 
serf  in  the  name  of  freedom,  and  suffers  all  the  evils  of  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery,  without  receiving  that  care  which  the  master, 
from  a  sense  of  his  own  interest,  would  give  to  his  bondsmen." 

Gov.   Hamilton  of  Texas  stated  before   an  immense  meeting 


472  LIVES  OF  TEE  PRESIDENTS. 

of  the  citizens  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  on  the  evening  of  Sept.  15, 
1866,  that  he  could  testify  from  his  own  personal  knowledge,  that 
ill  the  single  State  of  Texas,  during  the  last  six  months,  more  than 
one  thousand  colored  men  had  been  brutally  and  wantonly  mur- 
dered,—  unoffending  men,  murdered  simply  because  they  were 
colored  men  and  loyalists  ;  and  that  not  one  of  their  murderers 
liad  been  arrested.  He  stated  that  no  Union  white  man  dared  to 
attempt  to  protect  them ;  that,  should  he  make  the  attempt,  he 
would  only  expose  himself  to  the  same  fate. 

Aa'ain :  the  convention  describes  the  treatment  to  which  the 
white  loyal  men  are  exposed.  The  massacre  in  New  Orleans  was 
as  follows:  "On  the  30th  of  July,  1866,  in  pursuance  of  a  proc- 
lamation of  Rufus  N.  Howell,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Louisiana,  the  convention  of  loyal  men,  which,  under  the 
protection  of  the  United-States  troops,  met,  and  framed  the  or- 
ganic law  under  which  the  civil  government  of  Louisiana  was 
formed,  and  which  adjourned  subject  to  the  call  of  the  president, 
was  again  convened.  The  rebel  press  denounced  the  convention 
in  the  most  abusive  language,  and  resorted  to  every  expedient 
to  inflame  the  minds  of  the  returned  rebel  soldiers  against  the 
convention  and  its  adherents.  Public  meetings  were  held,  and 
incendiary  speeches  made.  The  mayor  of  the  city  declared  his 
intention  to  disperse  the  convention  if  it  should  attempt  to  meet 
within  the  limits  of  New  Orleans. 

''  At  twelve  o'clock  of  the  night  before  the  meeting  of  the  con- 
vention, the  police  were  assembled  at  the  station-houses,  and  each 
one  was  armed  with  a  large  navy  revolver.  The  convention  met 
at  twelve  o'clock,  at  noon,  in  the  Convention  Hall,  at  the  corner 
of  Dryades  and  Canal  Streets.  A  large  number  of  Union  men 
were  assembled  —  peaceful,  unarmed  citizens  —  in  front  of  the' 
building.  At  one  o'clock,  at  a  signal  of  the  ringing  of  the  bells, 
the  police,  joined  by  hundreds  of  armed  rebel  soldiers  in  citizens' 
dress,  attacked,  without  the  slightest  provocation,  the  people  in 
front  of  the  building.  With  unrelenting  butchery,  these  men  of 
bloody  hands  and  hearts  shot  down  the  loyalists.  The  street  was 
soon  cleared.  There  were  left  but  pools  of  blood,  and  the  man- 
gled bodies  of  the  slain. 

They  then  made  a  dash  into  the  hall  of  the  convention.  Paris, 
during  the  Reign  of  Terror,  never  witnessed  a  scene  more  dread- 
ful.    The  meaibers  of  the  convention  were  unarmed,  and  utterly 


ANDREW  JOUNbON. 


defenceless.  At  the  suggestion  of  their  chaplain,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Horton,  they  quietly  took  their  seats,  and  thus  awaited  the  storm. 
Without  any  attempt  at  arrest,  without  encountering  any  act  or 
word  of  provocation,  these  police-oflScers,  with  their  Union-hating 
band  of  rebel  soldiers,  opened  fire  with  their  revolvers  upon  their 
helpless  victims.  Volley  succeeded  volley.  No  mercy  was 
shown.  White  handkerchiefs  were  waved,  as  flags  of  truce,  in 
vain.  A  deaf  ear  was  turned  to  every  plea.  The  work  of  butch- 
ery was  continued,  until  every  Union  man  in  the  room  was  either 
killed  or  wounded,  excepting  the  very  few  who  almost  miracu- 
lously escaped. 


PaOT  AT  NEW  ORLEANS. —  SCENK   IN  MECHANIC'S'   HALL. 

While  this  scene  was  being  enacted  in  the  hall,  bands  of  mur- 
derers were  equally  active  in  the  streets,  for  several  squares 
Every  colored  man  and  every  known  Union 
The  bodies  of  the  slain  were  mutilated  in 
In  the  report  which  the  Southern  Union 
men  make  of  this  almost  unparalleled  outrage,  they  say,  — 

"  All  the  circumstances  connected  with  this  tragic  event,  —  the 

60 


around  the  building. 
man  was  shot  down, 
the  most  brutal  way. 


474  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

expressed  intention  of  the  mayor  to  disperse  the  convention,  the 
withdrawal  of  the  pohce  from  their  beats  in  the  city,  the  arming 
of  them  with  revolvers,  the  signal  given  at  one  o'clock,  and  the 
prompt  arrival  of  all  the  police  of  the  city,  including  six  or  seven 
hundred  special  policemen  sworn  in  for  the  occasion,  the  presence 
of  the  mayor  during  the  tumult,  the  deception  practised  by  the 
lieutenant-governor  to  keep  troops  out  of  the  city,  —  all  clearly 
prove  that  the  bloody  tragedy  was,  as  Gen,  Sheridan  states,  a 
'  premeditated  massacre.' 

"  And  from  the  brutal  manner  in  which  over  four  hundred 
Union  men  were  killed  or  wounded,  from  the  fact  that  not  one 
single  policeman  or  participant  in  the  murderous  affair  has  been 
arrested,  from  the  fact  that  the  same  men  whose  hands  are  yet 
red  with  the  blood  of  the  patriot  soldiers  of  the  Republic,  and 
crimsoned  anew  in  that  of  the  martyrs  of  the  30th  of  July,  are 
still  retained  in  office  and  power  in  that  city,  it  is  clear  that  there 
is  no  security  for  the  lives,  the  liberty,  or  the  property,  of  loyal 
citizens. 

''  It  is  a  part  of  the  history  of  this  massacre,  that  indictments 
were  found  by  the  grand  jury  of  the  parish,  composed  of  ex-rebel 
soldiers  and  their  sympathizers,  against  the  survivors  of  the  con- 
vention, for  having  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  community  ;  and 
that,  to-day,  many  of  them  are  under  heavy  bonds  to  appear,  and 
answer  the  charge.  Nor  did  this  seem  to  satisfy  the  judge  of  the 
criminal  court :  for  the  grand  jury  was  brought  before  him  on  the 
following  day,  and  instructed  to  find  bills  of  indictment  against 
the  members  of  the  convention  and  spectators,  charging  them  with 
murder,  giving  the  principle  in  law,  and  applying  it  in  this  case, 
that  whosoever  is  engaged  in  an  unlawful  proceeding,  from  which 
death  ensues  to  a  human  being,  is  guilty  of  murder ;  and  alleging, 
that  as  the  convention  had  no  right  to  meet,  and  the  police  had 
killed  many  men  on  the  day  of  its  meeting,  the  survivors  were 
therefore  guilty  of  murder. 

"  But  why  continue,"  these  Southern  loyalists  add,  "  the  recital 
of  this  horrible  record?  We  have  before  us  evidences  from 
every  portion  of  the  South,  proving  the  extent  and  the  increasing 
violence  of  the  spirit  of  intolerance  and  persecution  above  set 
forth.  This  committee  is  in  possession  of  information  that  Union 
men  dare  not  attend  this  convention,  for  fear  of  violence  upon 
their  return.     Gentlemen  of  this  convention  have,  since  their  ar- 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  475 

rival  in  this  city,  received  notices  warning  them  not  to  return 
home.  We  have  omitted  the  relation  of  acts  of  ferocity  and 
barbarism  too  horrible  to  relate.  We  submit  to  the  impartial 
judgment  of  the  American  people,  if  these  State  governments, 
thus  ruled  by  a  disunion  oligarchy,  and  based  on  the  political  dis- 
franchisement of  three  millions  of  colored  citizens,  and  the  social 
disfranchisement  of  the  entire  loyal  white  citizens,  are  republican 
in  form.  Of  doubtful  legal  existence,  they  are  undoubtedly 
despotic,  and  despotic  in  the  interests  of  treason,  as  we  of  the 
South  know  but  too  well. 

"  We  affirm  that  the  loyalists  of  the  South  look  to  Congress, 
with  affectionate  gratitude  and  confidence,  as  the  only  means  to 
save  us  from  persecution,  exile,  and  death  itself  And  we  also 
declare  that  there  can  be  no  security  for  us  and  our  children, 
there  can  be  no  safety  for  the  country,  against  the  fell  spirit  of 
slavery,  now  organized  in  the  form, of  serfdom,  unless  the  Govern- 
ment, by  national  and  appropriate  legislation,  enforced  by  national 
authority,  shall  confer  on  every  citizen  in  the  States  we  represent 
the  American  birthright  of  impartial  suffrage,  and  equality  before 
the  law. 

"  This  is  the  one  all-sufficient  remedy.  This  is  our  great  need 
and  pressing  necessity.  This  is  the  only  policy  which  will  destroy 
sectionalism,  by  bringing  into  effective  power  a  preponderating 
force  on  the  side  of  loyalty.  It  will  lead  to  an  enduring  pacifica- 
tion, because  based  on  the  eternal  principles  of  justice.  It  is  a 
policy  which  finally  will  regenerate  the  South  itself,  because  it 
will  introduce  and  establish  there  a  divine  principle  of  moral  poli- 
tics, which,  under  God's  blessing,  will,  in  elevating  humanity, 
absorb  and  purify  the  unchristian  hate  and  selfish  passions  of 
men." 

According  to  the  Constitution,  if  two-thirds  of  the  members  of 
each  house  of  Congress  agree  upon  any  amendments,  those  amend- 
ments shall  be  submitted  to  the  approval  of  the  several  States.  If 
three-fourths  of  these  accept  them,  they  become  a  part  of  the 
Constitution.  The  views  of  a  large  majority  in  both  houses  of 
Congress  were  not  in  harmony  with  those  of  the  President.  Con- 
gress took  the  ground,  that,  before  the  rebellious  States  should  be 
allowed  to  assume  their  former  privileges  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation,  certain  guaranties  should  be  exacted  of  them  as  a  protec- 
tion for  the  Union  men  of  the  South,  and  to  protect  the  nation 
from  the  repetition  of  so  terrible  a  wrong. 


476  LIVES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

With  this  view,  they  presented  to  the  States  Terms  of  Reccm- 
struciion,  to  be  adopted  as  constitutional  amendments.  Whatever 
may  be  thought  of  the  policy  or  the  impolicy  of  these  terms,  their 
wonderful  leniency  no  man  can  deny.  The  Rebellion  was  a  terri- 
ble fact,  as  terrible  as  earth  has  ever  known.  It  cost  thousands 
of  millions  of  money,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives,  and  an 
amount  of  misery,  of  life-long  destitution  and  woe,  which  never 
can  be  gauged.  A  greater  crime  was  never  perpetrated.  Its 
responsibility  lies  somewhere. 

If  we  regard  it  as  merely  a  combination  of  individual  citizens, 
then  these  insurgents  merit  severe  punishment  on  the  charge  of 
treason  and  rebellion.  If  we  regard  it  as  an  international  war 
between  the  United-States  Government  and  independent  Confed- 
erate States,  then  is  the  victorious  Government  entitled  to  the 
rights  of  a  conqueror  as  defined  by  the  laws  of  war.  Prussia  an- 
nihilates the  governments  of  the  provinces  and  the  kingdoms  she 
has  conquered,  and  compels  them  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war; 
and  not  a  cabinet  in  Europe  utters  a  word  of  remonstrance. 

With  magnanimity  never  before  in  the  history  of  the  world  man- 
ifested towards  a  vanquished  enemy,  the  National  Government 
calls  for  no  punishment  in  the  dungeon  or  on  the  scaffold,  for  no 
conscription  or  exile,  for  no  political  or  personal  servitude  de- 
priving States  or  individuals  of  any  of  their  rights :  it  simply 
requires  a  few  easy  terms  as  a  slight  security  against  another  war. 

These  terms  are  as  follows :  — 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Con- 
gress assembled  (two  thirds  of  both  houses  concurring),  That  the  following  article  be  proposed 
to  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  as  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States;  which,  when  ratified  by  three-fourths  of  said  legislatures,  shall  be  valid  as  part  of  the 
Constitution;  namely:  — 

Art.  1,  Sect.  1.  —  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and  subject  to  the 
jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  the  States  wherein  they  reside.  No 
State  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  whieli  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens 
of  the  United  States ;  nor  shall  any  State  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  happiness,  with- 
out due  process  of  law,  nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction  the  equal  protection  of  the 
laws. 

Sect.  2.  —  Representatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several  States  according  to  their 
respective  numbers,  counting  the  whole  number  of  persons,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed.  But 
whenever  the  right  to  vote  at  any  election  for  the  choice  of  electors  for  President  and  Vice- 
President,  representatives  in  Congress,  executive  and  judicial  officers,  or  members  of  the  legis- 
lature thereof,  is  denied  to  any  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  such  State,  being  twenty-one  jears  of 
age,  and  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  way  abridged,  except  for  participation  in  re- 
bellion or  other  crime,  the  basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the  proportion 
which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to  the  whole  number  of  male  citizeus  twenty- 
one  years  of  age  in  such  State. 

Sect.  .3.  —  That  no  person  shall  be  a  senator  or  representative  in  Congress,  or  elector  of  Pres- 
ident and  Vice-President  or  hold  any  office,  civil  or  military,  under  the  United  States,  or  under 
any  State,  who,  having  previously  taken  an  oath  as  a  member  of  Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of  the 
United  States,  or  as  a  member  of  any  State  legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or  judicial  officer  of 


ANDREW  JOHNSON.  47 1 

any  State,  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  shall  have  engaged  in  insurrection 
or  rebellion  against  the  same,  or  given  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof.  But  Congress 
may,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each  house,  remove  such  disabilities. 

Sect.  4.  —  The  validiry  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States  authorized  by  law,  including 
debts  incurred  for  payment  of  pensions  and  bounties  for  services  in  suppressing  insurrection  or 
rebellion,  shall  not  be  questioned.  But  neither  the  United  States  nor  any  State  shall  assume  or 
pay  any  debt  or  obligation  incurred  in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  United  States, 
or  any  claim  for  the  loss  or  emancipation  of  any  slave;  but  all  such  debts,  obligations,  and 
claims,  shall  be  held  illegal  and  void. 

Sect.  6.  —  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  by  appropriate  legislation  the  provisions 
of  this  article. 

This  amendment  allows  each  State  to  decide  who  of  its  citizens 
shall  enjoy  the  right  to  vote ;  but  it  declares  that  those  who  are 
not  allowed  to  vote  shall  not  be  counted  in  the  basis  of  repre- 
sentation. If  any  State  chooses  to  limit  the  elective  franchise  to 
a  favored  few,  it  can  do  so ;  but  that  privileged  few  are  not  to 
have  their  power  augmented  by  representing  large  bodies  of  cit- 
izens who  are  permitted  no  voice  in  the  selection  of  their  repre- 
sentation. But  for  this  provision,  a  rebel  voter  in  South  Carolina 
would  represent  a  power  in  national  affairs  equal  to  any  two  loyal 
voters  in  New  York.  With  slavery  re-instituted  under  the  guise 
of  serfdom,  and  with  their  representation  in  Congress  greatly  in- 
creased, by  counting  in  their  basis  of  representation  each  serf  as  a 
man,  the  rebel  States  would  have  gained  by  the  conflict  in  politi- 
cal power. 

These  terms  of  reconstruction  appeared,  to  many,  moderate  and 
conciliatory  in  the  extreme,  and  as  the  very  least,  which,  in  jus- 
tice to  its  patriotic  Southern  defenders  and  the  future  safety  of 
the  country,  the  nation  could  accept.  But  those  who  Avere  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  Rebellion  declared  them  to  be  "  too  degrading  and 
humiliating  to  be  entertained  by  a  freeman  for  a  single  instant." 
President  Johnson  opposes  them.  Congress  advocates  them. 
The  conflict  agitates  the  nation.  What  the  result  will  be,  time 
only  can  tell.  We  must  wait  until  the  close  of  President  John- 
son's administration  before  it  can  be  decided  with  what  reputa- 
tion his  name  shall  descend  to  posterity. 

Never  was  there  so  brilliant  a  career  opening  before  any  nation 
as  is  now  opening  before  the  United  States  of  America,  if  we  will 
but  do  justice  ;  if  we  will  but  be  true  to  our  own  principles  of 
"  equal  rights  for  all  men ;  "  if  we  will  but  inscribe  upon  our  ban- 
ner "  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity."  Then  shall  the  song  rise 
from  all  our  hills  and  vales,  and  be  echoed  back  from  the  skies, 
"  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good  will 
towards  men." 


INDEX. 


Adams,  JoHX.  His  birth,  67.  Hia  noble  am- 
bition, 59.  His  iruo  htroism,  65.  His  in- 
cessant labors,  67.  Goes  to  Europe,  73.  His 
integrity,  78.  Second  visit  to  Europe,  79. 
His  wonderful  exertions,  83.  His  flrst  inter- 
view with  George  III.,  85.  Elected  Vice- 
President,  &S.  Inaugurated  President,  92. 
Opposes  the  British  right  of  search,  93. 
His  death  and  character,  96.  His  opinion 
of  Thomas  Jeiferson,  104. 

Adajis,  Mrs.  John,  expresses  a  truly  noble 
sentiment,  81.  Joins  her  husband  in  Eu- 
rope, 84.  Her  appearance  when  seventy 
years  old,  94. 

Adams,  John  Quincy.  His  birth  and  child- 
hood, 185.  Graduates  at  Harvard  College, 
and  studies  law,  187.  Chosen  to  United- 
States  Senate,  189.  Alienated  from  his  par- 
ty, 191.  Minister  to  Russia,  192.  Minister 
to  England,  194.  Elected  President,  105. 
Sent  to  Congress,  198.  His  eloquence,  199. 
His  scathing  reply  to  T.  F.  Marshall,  204. 
His  death,  2u6. 

Administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  195. 

Aggressions  of  England,  135. 

Alexander  of  Russi.\  receives  John  Quincy 
Adams  with  marked  favor,  192.  Oilers  to 
mediate  in  our  war  with  England,  193. 

American  Commission  in  Paris,  80. 

Anecdotes.  Of  Washinyrton,  12,  40,  53,  54. 
John  Adams,  57.  Franklin  and  Adams,  69. 
Jefferson  and  his  bride,  102.  Lafavette,  117. 
Mrs.  James  Madison,  150.  President  Madi- 
son, 167.  President  Monroe,  182.  Russian 
officers,  192.  Warren  R.  Davis,  198.  Andrew 
Jackson,  214,  215,  217,  225.  Mrs.  James  K. 
Polk  and  Henry  Clav,  288.  Gen.  Kearney 
and  an  Indian  chief,  308.  Gen.  Z.  Taylor, 
3i2.  Gen.  Pierce,  .340.  Abraham  Lincoln, 
378,  381,  .385,  390,  420-428.  Gov.  Andrew 
Johnson,  448. 

Appeal  from  loyal  men  from  all  States  of  the 
Union,  471. 

liATTLE.  Of  Xew  Orleans,  230.  Okeechobee, 
.303.     Monterey,  316.     Molino  del  Rey,  347. 

Blair,  Secretary,  opposes  the  issue  of  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  415. 

BoDKisH,  Capt.,  the  skilful  lumberman,  .341. 

Booth,  John  Wilkes,  assassinates  President 
Lincoln,  431.  | 

Brandywine,  Americans  defeated  at,  41.  | 

British  Government,  how  they  regarded 
the  American  struggle,  34. 

British  loss  at  Xew  Orleans,  235.  j 

Buchanan,  James.  His  home  and  ancestry, 
352.  Faithfulness  as  a  member  of  Con-  > 
gress,  .354.  Speech  upon  the  tariff,  .355. 
Sustains  President  Polk,  .356.  Elected  Pres- 
ident, .358.  Replv  to  the  Silliman  Letter, 
361.     Retires  to  Wheatland,  374. 

BuENA  Vista,  battle  of,  319. 

Burr,  Aaron.  His  opinion  of  Andrew  Jack- 
son, 223. 

Cass,  Gen.  Lewis,  nominated  for  the  presi- 
dency, 383. 

478 


Ceremony  observed  by  Gen.  Washington,  90. 

Colonial  Congress.  Its  first  sitting,  63. 
Lord  Chatham's  opinion  of  its  ability  and 
heroism,  64. 

Commissioners  sent  to  France,  107. 

Committees  of  Correspondence,  their  ori- 
gin, 102. 

Comparison  between  the  American  presi- 
dents and  the  kings  of  Europe,  151. 

Condition  of  the  Army.  At  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Revolutionary  War,  30.  After 
the  evacuation  of  Xew  York,  36.  Of  the 
rebel  States  during  and  after  the  civU  war, 
469. 

Conspirators.    Their  designs,  432. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
its  fruits,  51.  Call  from  James  Madison  to 
frame  it,  152.  Opinions  of  distinguished 
men  concerning  it,  153.  Presented  to  the 
people,  155. 

Conversation  of  Jackson  and  Scott,  373. 

Cornwallis,  encii'cled,  surrenders,  47. 

Debate.  On  the  admission  of  Missouri  into 
the  Union,  182.  Between  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
Mr.  Douglas,  388. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  drawn  up 
by  Thomas  Jefferson,  105;  in  Mecklenburg, 
Pcnu.,  285. 

Depredations  of  British  soldiers  upon  Jef- 
ferson's estate,  107. 

Description  of  the  "  White  House,"  131. 

Destitution  of  the  American  army,  45. 

De  Tocqueville's  views  of  State  sovereign- 
ty, 356. 

Difference  between  the  Federal  and  Repub- 
lican parties,  173. 

Differences  between  John  Adams  and  the 
French  Government,  79. 

Difficulties  arising  from  a  confederation,  40. 

Discomfiture  of  the  assailants  of  John  Quin- 
cy Adams,  200. 

Division  in  President  Jackson's  cabinet,  248. 

Dorchester  Heights  taken  possession  of,  31. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.  His  qualities,  388. 

Effect  of  a  protective  tariff  upon  the  South 
and  Xorth,  280. 

Elm  Tree  in  Cambridge  immortalized,  31. 

Em.\ncip.\tion  Proclajiation  issued,  414. 

Encroachments  of  England  and  France,  18. 

Eng.vgement  between  "  The  Chesapeake  " 
and  "The  Leopard,"  190. 

England  claims  the  right  of  search,  1.36.  Her 
treatment  of  America  in  her  early  exist- 
ence as  a  nation,  178. 

Evidence  of  a  nation's  grief  for  the  death  of 
Lincoln,  433. 

Extracts.  From  "  The  British  Quarterly,"  164. 
From  President  Jefferson's  inaugural,  132. 

False  Views  of  the  French  Revolution,  114. 

FiLLMOKE,  Millard.  His  parentage,  324. 
His  early  life,  .325.  Elected  to  the  House 
of  Assembly,  Xew  York,  and  then  to  Na- 
tional Congress,  327.  Vice-President  United 
States,  329.     His  course  as  President,  330. 


INDEX. 


479 


Florida  purchased  of  Spain,  180. 
Fort  Brown  attacked  by  Mexicans,  309. 
France  sends  lielp  to  tlie  colonies,  45. 
Franklin,  Dr.  Benjamin.     His  facetious- 

ness,  52.     His  popularity  at  the  French 

court,  "5. 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  incidents  in  his  life,  254. 

Harrison,  William  Henry.  His  early  home, 
254.  His  youthful  character,  255.  Appointed 
Governor  by  John  Adams,  257.  His  ex- 
treme probity,  259.  Visits  the  Indian  camp 
on  Tippecanoe  River,  202.  Appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief of  North-western  army, 
205.  His  mirthfulness,  200.  Member  of 
House  of  Kepresentatives,  208.  His  trib- 
ute to  Gen.  Jackson,  209.  Sent  minister 
to  Colombia,  S.A.,  270.  His  temperance 
and  antislavery  views,  271.  Elected  Presi- 
dent, 272.     His  sudden  death,  273. 

Holland  negotiates  treaties  with  America,  80. 

Imbecility  of  President  Buchanan,  371. 

Incidents.  In  the  life  of  Jolni  Adams,  01,  02. 
Regarding  Gen.  Jackson  aud  John  Quincy 
Adams,  197.  In  the  later  years  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  200.  Of  the"  last  hours  of 
President  Polk,  297.  In  the  life  of  Presi- 
dent Liutoln,  418. 

Indebtedness  of  the  American  Republic  to 
John  Quincy  Adams,  198. 

Inexplicable  complications  of  party,  277. 

iNFAJious  conduct  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment, 102. 

Influence  of  the  news  of  the  treaty  of 
Glient,  105. 

Inhabitants,  President  Buchanan's  definition 
of  the  word,  304. 

Insurrection  in  Canada,  257. 

Jackson,  Andrew.  His  ancestry  and  early 
character,  208.  Commences  teaching,  212. 
Practises  law,  215.  His  marriage,  210. 
Elected  to  House  of  Representatives,  218. 
Sent  to  United-States  Senate,  219.  Exhibi- 
tions of  passion,  220.  His  treatment  of  his 
family,  223.  Raises  an  army  to  meet  the 
Indians,  225.  His  cruelty  to  a  soldier,  227. 
Appointed  major-general  United-States  ar- 
my, 228.  His  appearance  and  manners,  230. 
His  defence  of  New  Orleans,  233.  Un- 
authorized severity,  235.  Elected  President, 
30.  His  last  years,  237.  Sickness,  and 
farewells  to  his  familv,  238.  Burial-scene, 
239.    Testimouyof  Chief  Justice  Taney,  240. 

Jefferson,  Thomas.  His  ancestry  and  birth, 
98.  His  diligence  and  acquirements,  99. 
His  position  in  Congress,  104.  Chosen 
Governor  of  Virginia,  106.  "  Notes  on  Vir- 
ginia," 108.  His  love  for  his  wife,  and 
agony  at  her  death,  110.  Sent  ambassador 
to  France,  112.  His  domestic  character, 
110.  His  views  of  our  obligation  to  France, 
119.  Appointed  Secretary  of  State,  121. 
Diiierences  with  John  Adams,  124.  Elected 
President,  131.  His  simplicity  and  polite- 
ness, 133.  Is  re-elected  President,  135.  His 
attractive  hospitality,  139.  Pecuniary  em- 
barrassments, 142.  His  last  hours,  and 
death,  144.  His  opinion  of  .lames  Monroe, 
171.   Of  Andrew  Jackson  for  President,  219. 

Jefferson,  Mrs.  Thomas.  Her  beautiful 
character,  and  death,  109. 

Johnson,  Andi:ew.  His  parentage,  and  strug- 
gles for  education,  437.  His  rapid  rise  in 
intelligence  and  influence,  438.  His  keen 
reply  to  Senator  Hammond,  439.  Opposes 
secession,  440.  His  trials  in  Kentucky,  445. 
Appointed  Military  Governor,  440.  His 
eflbrts  in  the  Union  cause,  447.  Proclama- 
tion, 449.  Nominated  Vice-President,  451. 
Address  at  Washington,  459.  His  reply  to 
Gov.  Oglesby.  402.    Change  of  sentiments, 


465.  His  present  views  regarding  vital 
questions,  400.  His  ideas  on  reconstruc- 
tion, 470. 

Kansas.  Its  political  troubles,  349.  Resolu- 
tions of  her  free-State  men,  350.  Struggles 
for  its  possession,  .359. 

Kansas-Nebraska  Bill.    Its  principles,  388. 

Lecompton  Constitution  framed,  390. 

Letter.  Oi  John  Adams  to  his  wife,  08.  Mrs. 
Adams,  05,  00,  68.  Of  John  Quincy  Adams 
on  the  impressment  of  seamen,  191.  Of 
President  Buchanan,  370.  Of  3/r.  Cobb 
respecting  John  Quincy  Adams,  190.  OtMr. 
Cooper  to  President  Johnson,  460.  Of  Gen. 
Harrison  to  Gen.  Bolivar,  270.  Of  Gen. 
Jackson,  247.  Of  Jefferson  to  his  daughter, 
111;  to  his  grandson,  112;  to  Gen.  Lafay- 
ette, 125;  to  James  Madison,  127;  after  the 
death  of  his  daughter,  135;  to  Gen,  Lafay- 
ette, 130;  to  his  grandson,  137;  to  John 
Adams,  141.  Of  Andrew  Johnson  to  Rev. 
A.  J.  Crawford,  453.  Of  President  Polk  to 
Gen.  Taylor,  314.  Of  Daniel  Webster,  248. 
Of  Washington  to  Jeflerson,  126;  to  Mr. 
Laurens,  42. 

Lincoln,  Abraham.  Great  poverty  of  his 
ancestors,  375.  Character  of  his  parents, 
377.  Scene  at  his  mother's  funeral,  378.  His 
pure  morals,  380.  His  varied  employments, 
381.  Elected  to  State  Legislature,  and 
studies  law,  .382.  His  avowed  opinion  of 
slavery,  .383.  Elected  to  Congress,  385. 
His  view  of  the  Mexican  War,  386.  His 
reply  to  S.  A.  Douglas,  .388.  Various  opin- 
ions of  his  speeches,  .393.  Thoroughness  of 
his  law-studies,  304.  Scene  at  his  nomination 
for  President,  .397.  Speeches  on  his  way  to 
Washington,  401.  Extracts  from  his  in- 
augural, 400.  His  account  of  the  draughting 
of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  414. 
His  tenderness  and  justice  illustrated,  417. 
Reasons  for  occasional  drollery,  421.  His 
second  election,  428.  Extracts  from  his 
inaugural,  429.  His  calm  courage,  430.  Is 
assassinated,  431.  Funeral  solemnities,  434. 
His  views  of  slavery,  435. 

Madison,  James.  His  birth  and  childhood, 
149.  Elected  to  the  Continental  Congress, 
150;  to  Virginia  Legislature,  151.  Jeflerson 
pays  him  a  beautiful  tribute,  153.  Marries, 
156.  Appointed  Secretary  of  State,  159. 
Ability  of  his  State-papers,  160.  Elected 
President  161.  Re-elected,  163.  Retires 
from  public  life  to  Montpelier,  160.  His 
death,  167. 

Madison,  Mrs.  James.  Her  beautiful  char- 
acter, 150.  Her  influence  in  Washington, 
159.     Her  death,  168. 

M.\RCY,  Gov.,  upon  party  removals,  249. 

Marsh  all's  eulogy  upon  President  Taylor,  322. 

Massacre  by  savage  tribes,  44;  in  New  Or- 
leans, 472. 

Meeting  of  the  First  Congress,  88. 

Memorial  of  New-Haven  gentlemen  to  Presi- 
dent Buchanan,  360. 

Mexico,  hostilities  inaugurated,  309. 

Missouri  Compromise,  183.  Repealed,  348. 
Abrogated,  387. 

Monroe  Doctrine,  its  history,  183. 

Monroe,  James.  His  birth  and  early  life,  170. 
Distinguishes  himself  in  the  army,  171. 
Chosen  United-States  senator,  173.  Minis- 
ter to  France,  174.  Governor  of  Virginia, 
176.  Chosen  Secretary  of  War,  179.  Chosen 
President,  180.  Re-elected  President,  182. 
Retrospect  of  his  life,  183.  His  death, 
184. 

Motives  which  led  France  to  ally  herself  with 
the  colonies,  79. 

Mt.  Veknon,  history  of  a  day  at,  53. 


480 


INDEX. 


Nashvillf,  Aristocracy  in  1788, 214. 
NOViiL,  mode  of  balloting,  382. 

OsTEND  Manifesto,  357. 

Palo  Alto,  battle  wonbv  (ien.  Taylor  at,  310. 

Party-Spirit  in  the  United  States,  157. 

People,  new  meaning  of  this  word,  364. 

Pekil-s  of  frontier  life,  27. 

Pierce,  Franklin.  His  birth  and  early  life, 
.333.  Elected  to  various  offices,  :<34.  His 
bereavements,  3.35.  His  march  to  join  Gen. 
Scott,  338.  Is  .seriously  injured,  .344.  His 
perseverance,  .340.  Tleturns  to  his  profes- 
sion, and  is  chosen  President,  .348.  Uetires 
from  the  "  White  House,"  .350.  His  atti- 
tude during  the  civil  war,  .351. 

Polk,  Jame.s  K.  His  ancestors  in  the  Revo- 
lution, 285.  His  early  life  and  education, 
286.  Practises  law,  and  is  elected  to  Con- 
gress, 289.  Chosen  Governor  of  Tennessee, 
290.  Inaugurated  Pre.'-idciit,  292.  His  views 
of  the  war  with  Mexico,  295.  Leaves 
Washington,  297.    His  death,  298. 

Population  of  the  United  States  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Kevolutionary  War,  29. 

Proclamation  of  Great  Britain,  106. 

P^JO.SLAVEitY  feeling  towards  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, 370. 

Reconstruction  defined,  409. 
Removal  of  Congress  to  Washington,  130. 
Repuhlican  Conv^ention  of  1800,  396. 
Resolution  offered  by  Richard  Henry  Lee,  67. 

Drawn  up  by  Jefferson,  103. 
Retreat  of  the  British  from  Bosteo  Harbor, 

32. 

S.\nta  Anna.  Leads  the  Mexicans  at  Buena 
Vista,  319.    His  estate,  .342. 

Savage  barbarity  in  Virginia,  27;  reasonings 
and  consequences,  17. 

Scott,  Ma.jor-Gen.  Winfielp.  Describes 
President  Taylor,  323.  Marches  to  the  city 
of  Mexico,  343.  Urges  Buchanan  to  send 
re-enforcements  to  certain  United-States 
forts,  372.  His  remarks  on  the  inaugura- 
tion of  President  Lincoln,  405. 

Secret  Embassy  of  Caleb  Gushing,  .372. 

Sentiments  of  Lord  Chatliam,  44. 

Seward,  AV.  H.,  Secretary  of  State.  Attempt 
to  ashiissiiiate  Iiim,  432. 

SiLLiMAN  Memorial,  its  influence,  391. 

Sloat,  Commodore  United-States  navy.  His 
conduct  on  the  Pacific  coast,  308. 

South  Carolina  secedes,  371. 

Speech.  Of  Hon.  L.  M.  Keitt,.373.  OfA.  Lin- 
coln, at  Springlield,  111.,  391.  Of  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  at  Chicago,  411.  Of  Andrew 
Johnson,  at  Nashville,  451;  to  the  colored 
people,  455.    Of  Gov.  Oglesby,  402. 

Spirit  of  "  The  Richmond  Examiner,"  400. 

"  Sprinoki ELI)  Kkpuislic AN  "  describes  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  .388. 

Statement  of  Gov.  Hamilton  of  Texas,  472. 

State-Kigiits  principles  advocated  by  Presi- 
dent Van  Buren,  245. 

St.  Clair,  Gen.,  defeated  on  the  Wabash,  255. 

Stony  Point  fortress  captured,  45. 

Sufferings  of  the  patriot  army,  38;  of  our 
soldiers  at  Monterey,  316. 

T4YLOR,  Zaciiaky.  His  birth  and  early  home, 
29U.      His   shrewdness  and  courage,  301. 


Engages  in  the  Seminole  Warj  .302.  Sent 
to  Mexico,  306.  Brevetted  major-general, 
311.    Crosses  the  Rio  Grande,  313.    His  re- 

Eort  of  tlie  battle  of  Monterey,  317.  Posts 
is  force  at  Buena  Vista,  318.  His  election 
to  tlie  presidency,  and  death,  .322. 

Tecumseh.    His  character,  200. 

Temperance  principles  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
398. 

Terms  for  reconstruction  adopted  by  Con- 
gress, 476. 

Testimony  of  Jefferson  to  the  character  of 
Madison,  151,  153. 

Texas.  How  it  came  into  the  Union,  291.  Its 
western  boundary,  306. 

Thrilling  scene  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, 201. 

Treachery  of  Tecumseh  and  his  brother,  261. 

Treaty  OF  Peace.  Signed  at  Paris,  49;  with 
Indian  tribes,  gained  by  Gov.  Harrison, 
268. 

Tyler,  John.  His  parentage,  274.  Sent  as 
representative  to  Congress,  275.  Opposes 
J.  Q.  Adams  when  in  the  Senate,  276.  Be- 
comes President,  278.  Endeavors  to  con- 
ciliate all  parties,  279.  Allies  himself  with 
the  South  in  the  civil  war,  and  dies,  283. 

Valley  Forge,  Washington's  headquarters 
at,  41. 

Van  Buren,  Martin.  His  parentage,  242. 
His  marriage,  243.  Chosen  Governor  of 
New  York,  245.  Appointed  Secretary  of 
State  by  Gen.  Jackson,  246.  He  is  sent  to 
the  court  of  St.  James,  248.  His  perfect 
self-control,  249.  Elected  President,  250. 
Retires  to  Lindenwakl,  and  dies,  252. 

Vandal  spirit  of  the  Mexicans,  340. 

Walker,  rebel  Secretary  of  War.  His  proph- 
ecy, 411. 

Want  of  power  in  Congress,  48. 

AVAR.  Its  consequences,  19.  Declared  against 
Great  Britain,  163.  AVliat  is  civil,  and 
what  international,  468. 

Washington,  the  family,  9-18. 

AVasiiington,  George.  His  birth  and  home, 
10.  His  early  toUs,  15.  Chosen  surveyor 
of  the  State,  17.  Sent  to  remonstrate  with 
the  French,  19.  His  cool  courage,  21. 
Order  of  the  day  issued  by,  24.  His  sagacity 
at  Braddock's  defeat,  26.  His  marriage 
and  home,  28.  Chosen  commander-in- 
chief,  29.  Exhibition  of  Christian  charac- 
ter, 34.  His  true  heroism,  37.  Assailed 
by  his  countrymen,  42.  Takes  leave  of  the 
officers  of  the  army,  49.  Closing  words  to 
tlie  Continental  Congress,  50.  Elected  first 
President  of  the  United  States,  52.  His 
opinion  of  slavery,  54.  His  last  sickness, 
and  death,  55,  56.  His  opinion  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  188.    His  letter  to  .Jay,  243. 

Washington,  Mary.  Her  noble  character, 
11. 

Wayne,  Gen.,  defeats  a  strong  Indian  force, 
256. 

Webster,  Daniel,  his  views  upon  slavery 
extension.  292. 

"  AVhite  House,"  the,  description  of  it  as 
in  its  early  days,  159. 

Will  and  Testament  of  George  Washing- 
ton, 54. 

Wilmot  Proviso,  294'. 

Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  suspended,  417. 


Geo.  C.  Rand  &  Avery,  Cornhill  Press,  Boston. 


